Bulgarian ex-president Rumen Radev — an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia — on Sunday hailed a “victory of hope” after his formation topped the eighth parliamentary elections in five years.<\/p>\n
Projections from polling agencies put his Progressive Bulgaria grouping at some 44 percent, which would give him an absolute majority of at least 129 seats in the 240-seat parliament.<\/p>\n
The European Union’s poorest member has seen successive governments since 2021, when anti-graft rallies brought down the conservative administration of pro-European leader Boyko Borissov.<\/p>\n
Radev, 62, who resigned earlier this year after nine years as president, ran on a pledge to fight corruption.<\/p>\n
PB came in well ahead of Borissov’s GERB party and the liberal PP-DB coalition, both of which stood at around 12 percent, according to the projections.<\/p>\n
Official final results are expected no earlier than Monday.<\/p>\n
“PB has won unequivocally — a victory of hope over distrust, a victory of freedom over fear,” Radev told reporters outside his group’s office in Sofia.<\/p>\n
He said Bulgaria would “make every effort to continue on its European path”.<\/p>\n
“But believe me, a strong Bulgaria and a strong Europe need critical thinking and pragmatism. Europe has fallen victim to its own ambition to be a moral leader in a world with new rules,” the former air force general added.<\/p>\n
– ‘Unequivocal winner’ –<\/p>\n
Radev has said he wants to rid the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people of its “oligarchic governance model”.<\/p>\n
He backed anti-corruption protests last year that brought down the latest conservative-backed government.<\/p>\n
Radev has emerged as an “unequivocal winner,” Boryana Dimitrova of the Alpha Research polling agency told AFP.<\/p>\n
Borissov, who headed the country virtually uninterrupted for close to a decade, congratulated Radev earlier Sunday but insisted that “winning elections is one thing, governing is another.”<\/p>\n
Borissov, 65, has dismissed claims that Radev brings something “new”, while highlighting his own party’s “extremely pro-European position,” including support for Ukraine and the EU.<\/p>\n
Radev, on the other hand, has called for “practical relations with Russia, based on mutual respect and equal treatment”.<\/p>\n
He has criticised a 10-year defence agreement signed last month between Bulgaria and Ukraine, which has been battling Russia’s full-scale invasion since 2022.<\/p>\n
He has also opposed Bulgaria sending arms to Ukraine, though he has said he would not use his country’s veto to block EU decisions.<\/p>\n
– High turnout –<\/p>\n
Turnout exceeded 50 percent, the highest since April 2021, Dobromir Zhivkov, director of the Market Links agency, told AFP.<\/p>\n
Participation had fallen to just 39 percent in the 2024 elections amid widespread public distrust in politics.<\/p>\n
“Everything simply has to change,” Stiliana Andonova, a retired engineer, told AFP after casting her ballot in Sofia, citing concerns over corruption and the judiciary.<\/p>\n
Political parties had urged Bulgarians to vote in order to curb the impact of vote buying.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, police have seized more than one million euros in raids against vote buying and detained hundreds of people, including local councillors and mayors.<\/p>\n
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