Pro-Russian former President Rumen Radev has won
Bulgaria’s parliamentary election by a landslide, official results showed on Monday, crushing long-dominant political forces and possibly pushing the EU and Nato member state closer to Moscow.
The performance, exceeding opinion poll forecasts, is one of the strongest results for a single party in a generation and may end, for now, the chronic instability that led to eight elections in five years.
Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party had 44.7 per cent of the vote after 97.52 per cent of ballots were counted, suggesting it could rule alone, but he has not ruled out a coalition with a pro-European group or a smaller party.
Progressive Bulgaria’s tally put it far ahead of the pro-European We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition with 12.8 per cent and the long-dominant GERB party, led by former prime minister Boyko Borissov, at 13.4 per cent.
A Eurosceptic and former fighter pilot opposed to military support for Ukraine’s war effort against Moscow, Radev stepped down from Bulgaria’s largely ceremonial presidency in January to run in the parliamentary election after mass protests forced out the previous government in December.
He rode a wave of frustration with political instability in the Balkan nation of 6.5 million, where voters are sick of corruption and veteran parties that have dominated politics for decades.