"This article reviews the 2009 results of the General Election in Bulgaria, an election which brought a new party almost to the point of being able to govern alone. The election results also increased the vote of apparently populist parties, which the author sets into the context of the post-accession crisis within the EU, affecting not only Bulgaria, and continuing voter disappointment with the solutions offered and with the political process. The author describes four characteristics of the 2009 elections – a new voting system, the close timing with the elections to the European Parliament, the election campaigns themselves, and the higher than expected turnout – before describing the likely impact of the actual results, which saw significant changes in the parliament and in the government, on the political life of the country. The author assesses the state of each of the parties participating in the new parliament, which will need to overcome a great deal of inexperience in the critical period facing the economy and which is itself a sign of the instability of the party political system. "

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