The bourgeois GERB of the controversial former prime minister Boyko Borissov won the Bulgarian parliamentary elections on Sunday. This is demonstrated by election polls that were published when polling stations closed for the night. Thus, the Borissow party reaches 24.6 or 25.5 percent of the vote. The liberal movement “We Continue to Change” (PP) of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who was ousted in June, received 18.9 and 19.9 percent of the vote, respectively.
Petkov was ousted by a vote of no confidence in June after just seven months in office. He came to power last year after a protest vote against Prime Minister Borissov, which was controversial because of several corruption cases.
Pro-Russian party wins nearly ten percent of votes
According to a survey by the Alpha Research institute, seven parties are moving to the new parliament in Sofia. An eighth formation could simply fail at the four percent barrier. The result for the Turkish minority liberal party DPS is surprisingly good: with 14.4% it has become the third strongest party in Bulgaria. With 10.2 percent, Russia-oriented Socialists drop to fourth place. The BSP co-ruled with the PP in the fallen four-party coalition for seven months.
The pro-Russian anti-European “Vazraschdane” (rebirth) party, which represented the smallest faction in the last parliament, is nearly tied at 10%. The pro-European alliance “Democratic Bulgaria”, which also belonged to the overthrown coalition government, was voted on by 7.9% of Bulgarians. It is somewhat surprising that the populist formation “There is such a people” (ITN), which caused the fall of the last reform government, is back in parliament with 4.2 percent. The Gallup polling agency still sees one party represented in parliament. It is the conservative pro-Russian Bulgarian Revolt party, which was only founded in May, that is just above the four percent barrier.
It’s probably still standing
Observers expect the political standstill in the country to continue after the elections. The emerging fragmented parliament and deep distrust between the major parties will likely make the formation of a majority coalition impossible. Borisov’s GERB remains in political isolation and is blamed by nearly all opponents for the country’s rampant corruption during its ten-plus-year reign. Voter turnout was almost 35%, which says a lot about Bulgarians’ political disenchantment after a year and a half of political instability.