Is GERB left wing or right wing?

On economic organisation GERB scores +05 on a scale from −10 (common ownership) to +10 (private property and markets). On social and cultural order it scores +05. A single left–right figure combines these and four further measurements that move independently, which is why the atlas reports six.

Is GERB authoritarian?

On the organisation of power, which measures whether authority is dispersed among institutions that can stop each other or concentrated in a single centre, GERB scores +04. Repeated inconclusive elections and short-lived governments; sustained anti-corruption protests in 2020.

Atlas / Organisations / GERB

GERB

2006– · Bulgaria · Conservative · Electoral party · coding confidence low

+05ECmarket

+05CUtraditional

+04AUmonist

+04SCcentral

+04IDascriptive

−04CHlawful

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

A personalist centre-right party that has dominated a system so unstable it has held seven elections in four years.

Economic model

EU funds, low flat tax, energy dependence on Russian supply until 2022.

Organisation of powers

Repeated inconclusive elections and short-lived governments; sustained anti-corruption protests in 2020.

Reading note

Coded at low confidence. Bulgaria's party system is currently the least stable in the EU.

Check a claim about GERB. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored +05

Coded +5: low flat tax with EU structural funds as the main investment source.

Documented act or statuteBulgaria has a 10% flat income and corporate tax.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored +05

Coded +5: socially conservative with an Orthodox national frame.

Documented act or statuteThe constitutional court ruled against ratifying the Istanbul Convention in 2018.

AU · Organisation of power · scored +04

Coded +4 with low confidence: seven elections in four years.

Documented act or statuteSustained anti-corruption protests in 2020 and repeated inconclusive parliaments since.

SC · Scale of decision · scored +04

Coded +4: a centralised unitary state.

Documented act or statuteRegional governors are appointed by the government.

ID · Rule of membership · scored +04

Coded +4: a national frame with a large Turkish and Roma minority.

Documented act or statuteA Turkish-minority party has held parliamentary seats continuously since 1990.

CH · Method and tempo · scored −04

Coded −4: entirely electoral.

Documented act or statuteHas led and lost government repeatedly since 2009.

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Countries

Bulgaria

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). GERB. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/gerb/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.