Bulgaria’s election has concluded with a landslide victory for pro-Russian figure Rumen Radev, official results showed on Monday. The outcome sidelines dominant political forces, potentially pushing the EU and NATO member state closer to Moscow.
His performance, significantly exceeding opinion poll forecasts, is among the strongest for a single party in a generation. It may also end the chronic instability that has led to eight elections in five years.
Mr Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party garnered 44.7 per cent of the vote, with 91.7 per cent of ballots counted. This suggests it could rule alone, but he has not ruled out a coalition with a pro-European group or smaller party.
Progressive Bulgaria’s tally was far ahead of the pro-European We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition (13.2 per cent) and the long-dominant GERB party, led by former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov (13.4 per cent).
“This is a victory of hope over distrust, a victory of freedom over fear, and finally, if you will, a victory of morality,” Radev told a press conference late on Sunday.
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.
“There is now an opportunity for the things people have been hoping to see change to actually become visible,” Evelina Koleva, a manager at digital marketing company in Sofia, the capital, told Reuters.
Radev’s campaign drew comparisons with Hungary’s pro-Kremlin former Prime Minister Viktor Orban when he talked about improving ties with Moscow and resuming the free flow of Russian oil and gas into Europe.
He also criticised the European Union for relying too heavily on renewable energy.
However, Radev has been vague on policy and it is not yet clear how much he will change foreign policy in Bulgaria, a Black Sea nation on the EU’s southeastern flank which joined the euro zone in January — a move Radev has criticised.
Analysts do not expect him to try to reverse Bulgaria’s adoption of the euro or to block wider EU aid packages to Ukraine.
On Sunday Radev said he would be willing to work on judicial reform with PP-DB and that Bulgaria would “make efforts to continue on its European path”.
Some voters were wary.
“I don’t know whether to believe there will be a change in the political class,” said Venelin Spasov, a 31-year-old real estate broker from Sofia. “But I hope it’s for the best because, after all, it is high time we had some kind of change.”
Bulgaria has developed rapidly since the fall of communism in 1989 and joined the EU in 2007. Life expectancy has risen sharply, unemployment is the lowest in the EU, and the economy has greater safeguards since adopting the euro.
But it lags EU countries in other metrics.
The cost of living has become a particular issue since Bulgaria joined the euro. The previous government fell amid protests against a new budget proposing tax increases and higher social security contributions.
“The country’s main challenge is the economic crisis and the demographic crisis,” said Tihomir Bezlov, a senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy in Sofia.
“There do not seem to be many ideas in the winning camp on either of these issues.”
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