The Progressive Bulgaria coalition received 38% of the votes according to an exit poll, more than double the score of the conservative ruling party GERB, which got 16%. The middle coalition PP-DB received 14% of the votes, and three or four other parties look set to cross the 4% threshold and enter Parliament, according to major media reports. In his first speech on Sunday evening, Radev said he is looking for coalition partners, as his victory does not give Progressive Bulgaria a strong enough mandate to govern alone.
Rumen Radev, a former Mig-29 fighter pilot and commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian Air Force, stepped down after nine years as president in January to form his new movement. The election was called after the previous government tried to push through a controversial budget last December, prompting mass demonstrations which Radev, as president, supported. He fought this election largely on domestic policies, promising to combat corruption and restore stable government after years of weak and easily-toppled coalitions.
People rejected the self-satisfaction and arrogance of old parties and did not fall prey to lies and manipulation. I thank them for their trust.
Radev has during the election campaign focused on criticizing corruption and the powerful oligarchs, but also opposed military aid to Ukraine and argued for removing import barriers for Russian oil and gas. He is also described as a Eurosceptic, and his program is described as sufficiently vague for the coalition to be able to cooperate with almost all other parties in the newly elected parliament. Bulgaria is an important supplier of ammunition and explosives to Ukraine, through third countries, especially neighbouring Romania, and the war has given a boost to an arms industry which has struggled since the Soviet era.
Since 2022, Radev has frequently spoken out against the sale of the Bulgarian stockpile of Soviet era weapons to Ukraine, on the grounds that they prolong a war Ukraine cannot win - a similar argument to that made by outgoing Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban. Voter turnout appears to land at around 43 percent, according to the exit poll, in what is the eighth parliamentary election in the country in five years.
What Europe needs right now is critical thinking, pragmatic actions and good results, especially to build a new security architecture and … recover its industrial power and competitiveness. That will be the main contribution of Bulgaria to its European mission.