Former Prime Minister Borisov regains power in Bulgarian elections

Former Prime Minister Borisov regains power in Bulgarian elections
The re-elected Bulgaria Prime Minister Boyko Borisov arrives for an EU summit meeting, Thursday 17 December 2015 in Brussels. Credit: Nicolas Materlinck

Former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s centre-right GERB party has won Bulgarian parliamentary elections held on Sunday.

With 99% of the votes counted, it appears that GERB has received 25.4% of the votes. The result is in line with what an exit poll predicted yesterday.

The centre party of the liberal and pro-European Kiril Petkov, called ‘We will continue with the change’, came in second with 20.2% of the vote.

Borisov, 63, has been prime minister three times before. However, it is expected that it will still be difficult for him to forge a stable government coalition, unless he sides with the far-right, pro-Moscow Revival party.

Yesterday’s Bulgarian elections, the third parliamentary snap election since 2021, were dominated by economic problems.

The snap election was called after the fall of Petkov Government, a four-party coalition, in June 2022, confirmed by a no-confidence vote tabled by Borisov’s GERB party.

Borisov controversies

Borisov has been at the centre of various scandals including allegations of corruption and racism toward Bulgaria’s sizeable Roma and Turk populations.

Prime Minister Borisov was forced to resign after widespread protests in 2020-2021 were held against corruption in Bulgaria, with allegation made against the PM. His case was not helped by the leak of a photo of him laying half-naked on a bed, next to a nightstand featuring a handgun and stacks of euro banknotes.

The poorest Member State of the European Union is struggling with an inflation rate of almost 20%. The final result, which also includes all ballot papers from abroad, is not expected until Thursday.


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