Bulgarian President Rumen Radev won a new five-year term in a runoff ballot, cementing gains among forces that ousted longtime Premier Boyko Borissov from power.
Radev won 63.9% of Sunday’s vote, according to an exit poll by Alpha Research and published by public BNT television on Sunday. University head Anastas Gerdzhikov, the candidate for Borissov’s former ruling Gerb party, won 33.1%, according to the poll.
Just minutes after exit polls were released, Gerdzhikov conceded defeat, telling his supporters it was “obvious” that Radev won the runoff vote.
If official results bear out results from this exit poll, Radev’s reelection may help end a political power vacuum in European Union’s poorest member, which has been forced to hold three elections this year as it struggles to contain one of the world’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks and secure access to EU aid funds.
Radev, a NATO-trained Air Force general, has pledged to help fight endemic corruption and organized crime that he says have infiltrated the highest level of government for years. He took office in 2017 vowing to lift European Union sanctions against Russia and with the support of the pro-Russian Socialist Party.
His stance has put him at odds with Borissov, whose party was unexpectedly defeated in parliamentary elections earlier this month and looks set to be relegated to the opposition.
While the presidential post is largely ceremonial, Radev will have a role in the formation of a new government, and if the parties negotiating to create a cabinet, fail, he’ll be able to appoint an interim government.
