The Constitutional Court accepted the resignation of President Rumen Radev. The rapporteur in the case was the president of the court, Pavlina Panova. Thus, in practice, Bulgaria now has a new president - Iliana Yotova.
The Constitutional Court decided that the powers of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Georgiev Radev are terminated early with the establishment of his resignation. The decision comes into force today, 23.01.2026, and was taken unanimously. 12 constitutional judges participated in the session, according to the announcement of the Constitutional Court.
The court's task was only to establish that the resignation of the head of state was his personal expression of will, and was not made under pressure. Since this is not an impeachment proceeding, there is no need for the president to appear in court or for an investigation to be conducted.
Radev's powers will be transferred to Vice President Iliana Yotova, who will automatically assume office as head of state. According to the Constitutional Court, she will not have to take the oath of office again before the National Assembly, as she did so in 2021.
And following the Constitutional Court's decision, Rumen Radev will step down from the presidency at 4 p.m. today. He will be sent off at the grand entrance by Yotova.
We recall that Rumen Radev made an address to the Bulgarian people on January 19, in which he announced that he was submitting his resignation, which will be deposited with the Constitutional Court the next day, which is a precedent in the history of Bulgaria.
The two will leave the building through the grand entrance of the Presidency. Yotova will see off Rumen Radev in front of her. And there are already initiatives on social networks for his sending off. The expectations are that he will very soon announce his political project with which to participate in the early elections.
Rumen Radev is a Bulgarian Major General in the Air Force. He rose to the post of Commander of the Air Force.
In the elections held in November 2016, he was elected President of the Republic of Bulgaria. She was sworn in before the National Assembly on January 19, 2017, and on January 22, 2017, she took office for a five-year term, together with Iliana Yotova as Vice President.
In November 2021, they won the runoff elections again and began a second term. Radev is the first president in the democratic history of the country to resign.
And now their second term will be completed only by Iliana Yotova, who will be, in addition to being president, the first female Supreme Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces. She will not have her own deputy.
Iliiana Yotova's public image began in the role of a journalist. Then she became part of the BSP party structures. It was there that she began to build her party career. She was in "Positano" until 2016. She became an MP, then an MEP. For the past 9 years he has been Vice President of Bulgaria.