The center-right GERB party of former Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov appeared to be the winner of parliamentary election, the central electoral commission said yesterday, with nearly 99 percent of the ballots counted.
Results showed the GERB, or Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, receiving 25.4 percent of the vote, edging out the reformist We Continue the Change party founded a year ago by two Harvard graduates, by more than 5 percentage points.
Five other parties are expected to have made it into the 240-seat chamber. They are the ethnic Turkish MRF party with 13.7 percent, pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party with 10.2 percent, the Socialist party with 9.3 percent, the liberal anti-corruption group Democratic Bulgaria with 7.5 percent and the newly formed nationalist Bulgarian Rise party with 4.6 percent.
Photo: Reuters
The early election came after a fragile coalition led by Kiril Petkov of the We Continue the Change party lost a no-confidence vote in June.
Bulgaria’s fourth election in 18 months was marked by a raging war nearby, political instability and economic hardships in the bloc’s poorest member. A low turnout reflected voter apathy.
If these results are confirmed by the final count, Borissov, 63, would be handed a mandate to form his fourth Cabinet. However, it would be an uphill task for him to produce a stable governing coalition, as most political groups have in advance rejected any cooperation with GERB, which presided over years of corruption that hampered development.
Petkov conceded defeat late on Sunday and said that now GERB had the responsibility to form a coalition and govern the country.
Many Bulgarians share pro-Russia sentiments, which provides fertile soil for aggressive Kremlin propaganda in the Balkan country. The pro-Russia party Vazrazhdane managed to double its support compared with the previous election, and a second nationalist party with pro-Moscow rhetoric cleared the 4 percent threshold to enter parliament.
Political analysts predict weeks of talks to form a viable coalition, but do not exclude the possibility of another election.
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