Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria () is a political party in Bulgaria established by former Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov (1997–2001).
History
Kostov resigned as chairman of the United Democratic Forces after a painful election defeat in June 2001 to Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's newly established National Movement for Simeon II. The UDF had suffered heavily from allegations of corruption and increased unemployment after having carried out economic reforms during its four-year term.
With time 29 (out of 51) UDF MPs including Kostov grew increasingly dissatisfied with the new UDF leadership of chairwoman Nadezhda Mihailova, who was the foreign minister in Kostov's own government. Following another defeat for the UDF in the 2003 local elections and after Nadezhda Mihailova's refusal to bear the responsibility and resign, the group of 29 around Kostov announced their departure from the UDF and the formation of a new political force, the DSB.
DSB is a member of the European People's Party (EPP).
On 30 March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the Sofia City Council members from Democratic Bulgaria, a coalition Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria is part of, proposed a package of measures in defense of local economy. Those included ten-fold tax cut for landlords for leasing an apartment, rent-free period for businesses renting municipal property for the duration of the national emergency, and reorganization of Sofia public transport in view of the reduced passenger flow.
Leaders
thumb|200px|right|Former DSB logo
It was chaired by Ivan Kostov since its establishment in May 2004 until June 2013. He resigned after failing to reach the 4% electoral threshold in the 2013 election. The party was chaired by Radan Kanev, until his resignation following the 2017 election. Since then it has been chaired by Atanas Atanasov.
• Ivan Kostov (2004 - 2013)
• Radan Kanev (2013 - 2017)
• Atanas Atanasov (2017 - present)
Election results
<!-- ===25 June 2005 legislative elections=== At the legislative elections on 25 June 2005, DSB won 7.0% of the popular vote and 17 out of 240 seats, with their support coming mainly from big cities (appr. 18% of voters in Sofia). ===29 October 2005 partial local elections=== The DSB candidate for Mayor of Sofia, former finance minister and head of the Central Bank of Bulgaria Svetoslav Gavriyski, arrived third in the first round with 18% of the votes. The last political surveys (March 2006) showed a large decline in people supporting Kostov's party. Less than 4% of political support was indicated, behind BSP (socialists), ATAKA (nationalists), NDSV (Simeon II's party) and UDF. -->
National Assembly
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Election
! Leader
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/–
! Government
|-
! 2005
| rowspan=3 |Ivan Kostov
| 234,788
| 6.44 (#6)
|
| New
|
|-
! 2009
| 285,671
| 6.76 (#5)
|
| 2
|
|-
! 2013
| 103,638
| 2.93 (#7)
|
| 15
|
|-
! 2014
| rowspan=2 |Radan Kanev
| 291,806
| 8.89 (#4)
|
| 23
|
|-
! 2017
| 86,984
| 2.48 (#6)
|
| 23
|
|-
! Apr 2021
| rowspan=8 |Atanas Atanasov
| 302,280
| 9.31 (#5)
|
| 10
|
|-
! Jul 2021
| 345,331
| 12.64 (#4)
|
| 1
|
|-
! Nov 2021
| 166,966
| 6.37 (#6)
|
| 4
|
|- style=height:3em
! 2022
| 186,511
| 7.45 (#6)
|
| 1
|
|-
! 2023
| 621,069
| 23.54 (#2)
|
| 2
|
|-
!Jun 2024
|307,849
|13.92 (#3)
|
| 2
|
|-
! Oct 2024
| 346,063
| 13.74 (#2)
|
| 2
|
|-
! 2026
| 408,846
| 12.42 (#3)
|
| 2
|
|}
President of Bulgaria
{| class="wikitable" style="text" align="center"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Election year
!rowspan="2"|Candidate
!colspan="3"|First round
!colspan="3"|Second round
|-
!Votes
!%
!Rank
!Votes
!%
!Rank
|-
! 2006
| Nedelcho Beronov
| 271,078
| 9.75%
| 3rd
| -
| -
| -
|-
! 2011
| Rumen Hristov
| 65,761
| 1.95%
| 6th
| -
| -
| -
|-
! 2016
| Traycho Traykov
| 224,734
| 5.87%
| 6th
| -
| -
| -
|-
! 2021
| Lozan Panov
| 98,488
| 3.68%
| 5th
| -
| -
| -
|}
European Parliament
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Election
! List leader
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/–
! EP Group
|-
! 2007
| Konstantin Dimitrov
| 84,350
| 4.35 (#7)
|
| New
| –
|-
! 2009
| Nadezhda Mihaylova
| 204,817
| 7.95 (#6)
|
| 2
| rowspan=4 |EPP
|-
! 2014
| Meglena Kuneva
| 144,532
| 6.45 (#5)
|
| 1
|-
! 2019
| Radan Kanev
| 118,484
| 6.06 (#5)
|
| 0
|-
! 2024
| Nikola Minchev
| 290,865
| 14.45 (#3)
|
| 0
|}
Program
thumb|The fifth national meeting of the DSB in [[Sofia]]
The DSB define themselves as a moderately conservative, but also nationally oriented