Bulgaria’s do-over elections ended too close to call after a strong showing by an anti-establishment movement led by a late-night talk show host and pop star looked poised to end a decade of political dominance of three-time Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.
The result may produce a hung parliament and extend a political crisis that has hampered the country’s efforts to improve the European Union’s lowest living standards and worst corruption. The Black Sea nation is also struggling to catch up vaccinating against COVID-19, where it ranks last in the bloc.
Stanislav Trifonov’s There Is Such a People party led with 23.9%, followed by Borissov’s Gerb with 23.4%, according to an Alpha Research parallel count with 100% of domestic votes processed. The Socialists were third with 13.1%, followed by the anti-graft Democratic Bulgaria with 12.8%. Partial official results were expected later.
The count didn’t include votes from abroad, which favored Trifonov in the initial ballot held in April. In that vote, a better-than-expected showing by Trifonov’s party, which is known as ITN, blocked Borissov from a fourth term, as all other political parties refused to work with Gerb in government. With voters flocking to new protest parties calling to sweep out the nation’s scandal-prone elite, no one else could muster majority support for a cabinet, which triggered a re-run of the vote.
“The parallel count showed that the winner in this election is There Is Such a People,” Toshko Yordanov, the party’s deputy chairman, said on Trifonov’s 7/8 TV channel. “The votes from abroad still haven’t arrived. I hope that when they come, the results will be even more conclusive.”
President Rumen Radev will give the winner of the election the first chance to create a ruling coalition. If it fails, the second-placed party gets a turn. If that doesn’t work, a third will be chosen by the president for a last try before new elections are called.
Under Borissov, the country of 7 million has remained in last place in the EU in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. While living standards have improved, they remain at about half of the bloc’s average. Brussels has also criticized Bulgaria for failing to uphold the rule of law and has kept the country out of the passport-free travel Schengen zone.
Trifonov, a performer of the Balkan analog of gangster rap and the host of Bulgaria’s most popular late-night talk show for almost two decades, has been railing against inequality and corruption even before Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007. Also known as “Slavi,” he has pledged to fight a “mafia model” he says gives oligarchs with ties to organized crime sway over politics and overhaul the electoral and justice systems.
Both Borissov and Trifonov say they favor deepening ties with the EU, though each has signaled resistance to the bloc’s efforts to open membership talks with neighboring North Macedonia, citing long-standing historical disputes.
Borissov wants Bulgaria to adopt the euro by 2024. Trifonov wants the currency too, but his adviser Toshko Yordanov, deputy chairman of There Is Such a People, warns against any “premature” move.
All mainstream parties are refusing to rule with Gerb, creating an enormous hurdle for Borissov to clinch a new term.
“Unfortunately we don’t see any potential for Bulgaria to be governed successfully in the coming months, and maybe years,” Gerb senior party member Toma Bikov said after exit polls were released.
Trifonov, who isn’t running for parliament himself, has said it’s not his goal to become premier.
He’s potentially better placed to form a ruling coalition. His most-likely allies include two parties, Democratic Bulgaria and Rise Up! Thugs Out!, but the parallel count showed them winning only 111 seats, below the 121 they would need to have a majority in parliament.
