Bulgaria’s ex-Kremlin president is determined to win the election by a landslide
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Former Russian president Rumen Radev is set to win Bulgaria’s election, official results say, ending years of weak coalition governments and sidelining long-ruling political forces.
Performance, which goes beyond opinion polls, is one of the strongest single-party results in a generation and may end, for now, the volatility that has led to eight elections in five years.
Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party had 44.6 percent of the vote after 60 percent were counted, suggesting it could rule alone in a strong minority government, but Radev has not ruled out a coalition with a pro-European party or minority party.
Progressive Bulgaria’s figures put it ahead of the pro-European coalition We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) with 14.2 percent, and the long-ruling party GERB, led by former prime minister Boyko Borissov, with 13 percent.
“This is the victory of hope over mistrust, the victory of freedom over fear, and finally, if you like, the victory of morality,” Radev told a press conference late Sunday, a day before the final election results were expected.
A Eurosceptic pilot and former fighter opposed to military support for Ukraine’s war effort against Moscow, Radev stepped down as president in January to run for parliament after mass protests ousted the previous government in December.
He is riding a wave of frustration over political instability in the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people, where voters are sick of corruption and veteran parties that have dominated politics for decades.
“Now there is a chance that the things that people were hoping to see change will be seen,” Evelina Koleva, a manager at a digital marketing company in Sofia, the capital, told Reuters.
Compared to Hungary’s Orban
Radev’s campaign drew comparisons with former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban when he talked about improving relations with Moscow and restarting the free flow of Russian oil and gas to Europe.
He also criticized the European Union for relying too much on renewable energy.
However, Radev is not clear on the policy and it is not clear how much he will change the foreign policy of Bulgaria, the southeastern EU NATO member that joined the Euro zone in January – a move that Radev has criticized.
On Sunday, he said he was willing to work on legal reforms with the PP-DB and that Bulgaria “will make efforts to continue its European path.”
Bulgaria has developed rapidly since the fall of communism in 1989 and joined the European Union in 2007. Life expectancy has increased significantly, unemployment is the lowest in the EU, and the economy has become more secure since adopting the euro.
But it ranks EU countries on other metrics.
The cost of living has become a particular problem since Bulgaria joined the EU. The previous government fell amid protests against a new budget that proposed tax increases and higher social security contributions.
