In Flagman.bg, the Authoritarian Populism Index 2026, published by Timbro and EPICENTER, was reported to place Bulgaria at the top of the European ranking for support for populist parties. According to the Index, Bulgaria and Czechia lead the 31 countries covered, each with 54.4% of the vote going to parties classified as populist or authoritarian, up from a European average of 26.9% in the 2024 edition to a record 32.6% today. The Institute for Market Economics (IME), part of the EPICENTER network, notes that support for populist parties is not necessarily the same as support for authoritarian government.