bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Boyko Borisov, the karate-chopping comeback specialist of Bulgarian politics, appeared to have pulled it off again Sunday with the two-time premier’s pro-EU centre-right party coming first in a snap election.
Borisov’s Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party won 33 per cent of the vote, projections from polling institutes showed.
The Socialist Party (BSP), seen as closer to Russia, garnered 28 per cent. Official results were expected later.
Whether Borisov, 57, the burly former firefighter and ex-mayor of Sofia with the common touch, can form a government - and one that lasts - remains to be seen.
“I hope we can ensure the rapid formation of a government that responds to the wishes of the people and to the grave international situation,” Borisov said late Sunday.
“We have to make sure that the nation is united.”


The European Union’s poorest country, where the average monthly salary is just 500 euros (US$540) and corruption is rife, has now seen three elections in four years.
Borisov, once a bodyguard for Bulgaria’s last communist leader, has long dominated national politics, serving as premier from 2009 to 2013 and again from 2014 to 2017.
Both times Borisov quit early, first in 2013 after mass protests and then last November after his candidate for the presidency was beaten by an air force commander backed by the BSP.
The BSP managed to almost double its score from the last election - Borisov’s was roughly the same - under new leader Kornelia Ninova, although exit polls had suggested a tighter race.
A victory for the Socialists would have raised the prospect of the Nato member of 7.4 million people in south-eastern Europe tilting closer to Russia.
A newspaper cartoon had depicted Ninova riding a Trojan Horse with Russian President Vladimir Putin hiding inside.
Russia, which has long had close cultural and economic ties with its Slavic cousins in Bulgaria, has recently been accused of seeking to expand its influence in other Balkan countries.
Ninova had said she was not content with Bulgaria being a “second-class member” of the EU and that she would veto an extension of sanctions imposed by Brussels on Moscow.
But Borisov also said during the campaign that he wanted more “pragmatic” ties with Russia and Ninova, 48, insisted that she remained committed to the EU.
“The pro-Western consensus has been preserved,” Parvan Simeonov from the Gallup polling institute told BNT public television.
“Russia’s heightened foreign policy ambitions played a role in mobilising the electorate.”
The scourge of graft - ever-present in Bulgaria - loomed over the poll, with prosecutors saying 79 electoral fraud probes had been launched.
The Nova television channel said it had filmed ballots being offered for sale for as little as 15 euros. Voter apathy and disillusionment with the main parties were also widespread.
“The big parties are totally disconnected from the reality of what is going on in Bulgaria and that is outright irresponsible,” said IT worker Alexander Naydenov, 35.
Forming a government for Bulgaria - which will hold the EU presidency in the first half of 2018, just as the bloc negotiates Britain’s exit - will not be easy for Borisov.
In the campaign, he ruled out a tie-up with the centrist Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MDL) party representing Bulgaria’s Turkish minority which came third or fourth with around 9.5 percent.
Potential partners include the United Patriots, also on around 9.5 per cent, and Veselin Mareshki, who likes being called the Bulgarian Donald Trump, although it was unclear whether his Volya party had passed the minium four per cent to enter parliament.


Bulgaria’s tough guy ex-PM Borisov bounces back again

Former Bulgarian prime minister and leader of centre-right GERB party Boyko Borisov gestures during a news conference at the party's headquarters in Sofia. Photo: Reuters

Head of the centre-right GERB party and former prime minister Boyko Borisov (C) speaks to media in Sofia on March 26, 2017, after his party won the country's parliamentary election. Two-time Bulgarian premier Boyko Borisov appeared to have bounced back in a parliamentary election on March 26, with exit polls putting his pro-EU centre-right party in first place. / AFP PHOTO / Dimitar DILKOFF

News

World

Europe