Bulgaria’s pro-European party GERB (acronym for “Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria”) has won the early parliamentary elections, collecting over 32 percent of the vote, getting ahead of the key contender, the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), by almost 6 percent. Reuters reports that the other seats in parliament will be occupied by the nationalist United Patriots (9.2 percent), Turkish-ethnic-community-affiliated Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and populist Volya (Will) (4.1 percent). The Central Election Commission will make the final results public not later than Thursday, March 30.
President Rumen Radev said (January 24, 2017) that there would be early parliamentary elections. Ex-Prime Minister Boyko Borisov resigned after his party’s nominee Tsetska Tsacheva lost the presidential race (November 2016) to ex-Major General Rumen Radev, then commander of the Bulgarian Air Force and the Socialist Party’s candidate. Mr. Radev is generally regarded as a pro-Russian politician who is supporting closer cooperation with Russia, like the Bulgarian Socialist Party leader, Kornelia Ninova.
COMMENTARY
Mykola BALTAZHY, Ambassador of Ukraine to Bulgaria:
“There is nothing amazing about the results of the early elections. The campaign was won by the GERB. What is amazing is the fact that the reformers’ bloc received no seats in the 44th Bulgarian parliament, considering that they were GERB’s junior partners in the previous parliament. Forming a GERB-led coalition will take a week or two. Whatever the alignment of forces, it is safe to assume that GERB, led by Boyko Borisov, has scored a landslide election victory. This is an important positive signal, concerning Bulgaria’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration foreign political course. I expect the new coalition will support Ukraine’s territorial integrity, reforms, European integration, and sanctions against Russia. In fact, this is part of the GERB’s campaign platform. Sanctions against Russia remained one of the key issues during the debates.
“There are a number of reasons why the Bulgarian electorate chose the GERB. This political party preferred a tranquil policy, compared to the confrontation-aggression one of the Socialists. Boyko Borisov stressed this in his campaign speeches, positioning himself as a politician determined to unite the nation. That was a stand the Socialists failed to demonstrate. Instead, they acted as an alternative party that would change parliament, and the entire system. Such changes had allegedly been long expected in Bulgaria. However, their anti-European rhetoric, the emphasis on blocking the EU agreement with Canada and lifting sanctions against Russia was the last straw.
“Add here GERB’s well organized canvassing campaigns in the urban and rural areas, using social networks, something this party lacked during the presidential race. This time they used slogans like ‘No Return to Socialism for Bulgaria!’ This had the desired effect on the GERB’s traditional and left-centrist electorates.
“The first day following the elections made it clear that campaign rhetoric had been replaced by the awareness of daily realities, and a pragmatic attitude from the politicians. I believe that the President will shortly authorize the GERB leader to form a new government, that this politician will do his utmost to make this coalition a reality. Last but not least, Bulgaria’s EU chairmanship in the first half of 2018 will play a major role in keeping that country’s political institutions stable.”
