Entangled Trajectories: The 2024 Electoral Year in Bulgaria and Romania

Analysis of the Romanian and Bulgarian Elections. in both countries, the 2024 electoral configurations display reversed yet structurally analogous features. On the eve of the 2024 elections, Romania maintained a relatively institutionalized party system, albeit with the growing influence of far-right actors such as the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), alongside a constellation of smaller yet vocal parties and leaders who mobilized platforms centred on the rejection of mainstream politics, the idealization of the (ethnic) people, and the denunciation of a broad spectrum of perceived cultural, economic, and political threats. Bulgaria, by contrast, had long experienced pronounced party fragmentation and recurring institutional deadlock, often failing to form stable governments.