Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov's six-month-old government has been toppled in a no-confidence vote over disagreements on the economy and whether Sofia should drop opposition to North Macedonia's European Union accession.
Opposition parties and the There Is Such a People (ITN) party, a former ally in Petkov's coalition government, combined for 123 votes to 116 backing Petkov's government.
The vote means Petkov's centrist Continue the Change (PP) party has a second chance to propose a government. If it fails to do so, two more attempts by other parties can be made before the president must appoint a caretaker cabinet and call snap elections.
It would be Bulgaria's fourth parliamentary elections since April 2021.
"This vote is only one small step in a very long way," Petkov said following the vote. "What they fail to understand is that this is not the way to win the Bulgarian people."
Petkov said he and his party would send letters to all members of parliament explaining the principles and goals of a possible successor government. Speaking to Nova TV, he said if they did not respond, "we are going to the polls."
The no-confidence motion was proposed by the opposition GERB party of conservative former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and backed by ITN leader Slavi Trifonov, who set the no-confidence vote in motion two weeks ago when he withdrew ITN from the coalition.
Petkov declared after the vote that his PP party will not give up fighting for a Bulgaria that is "without a mafia" and "a successful European country."
He added that it was an "honor" to lead a government overthrown by Borisov, Trifonov, former member of parliament Delyan Peevski, who has been hit by U.S. sanctions for his alleged role in corruption, and Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova.
Petkov, a 42-year-old Harvard graduate, has pledged to tackle corruption and took an unusually strong stance against Russia despite Sofia's traditionally friendly relations with Moscow.
Petkov fired his defense minister in February for refusing to call the Russian invasion of Ukraine "war" and backed EU sanctions against Moscow.
The ITN left the coalition after accusing Petkov of disregarding Bulgaria's interests by pushing to lift its veto on North Macedonia's EU accession talks under pressure from its EU and NATO allies.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited Bulgaria earlier this month, urged Sofia to drop its opposition to North Macedonia's EU aspirations over a series of language and historical disagreements.
Bulgaria is also grappling with high inflation, which has surged to a 24-year high last month when it reached 15.6 percent.
Fresh polls are likely to benefit Borisov's GERB party as well as pro-Russian parties like the nationalist Revival as the economic woes and the war in Ukraine polarize society.