Bulgaria looks set for lengthy and difficult coalition talks after a parliamentary election, the fifth in two years, again failed to produce a clear winner.
A bloc led by the centre-right GERB party of former prime minister Boyko Borissov won 26.5 per cent of votes in Sunday’s election, while a pro-Western reformist bloc led by We Continue the Change (PP) had 24.9 per cent, according to preliminary results based on 96 per cent of ballots counted.
The nationalist Revival party, which is sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine war, took third place with 14.4 per cent, up several percentage points from the previous election last October.
The ethnic Turkish MRF was in fourth place with 13 per cent and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), heir to the once-powerful Communist Party, had nine per cent.
Bulgaria’s prolonged political deadlock, caused mainly by personal animosity among leaders of the two main blocs, has already forced the country to delay its target date for adopting the euro, and it has yet to approve a budget bill for 2023.
The uncertainty has also hampered Bulgaria’s ability to harness European Union post-pandemic recovery funds, and analysts and voters fear the messy outcome of Sunday’s contest could eventually lead to yet another election being held later this year.
Bulgarian voters have grown weary of their politicians’ failure to set aside their differences and co-operate on putting together a government able to tackle a cost-of-living crisis and root out rampant corruption.
The PP and its ally Democratic Bulgaria (DB) accuse GERB of presiding over rampant corruption in the EU’s poorest member state during their decade-long rule that ended in April 2021, something that Mr Borissov denies.
For much of the past two years, Bulgaria has been ruled by technocratic caretaker governments appointed by President Rumen Radev.
The official final results of Sunday’s election are expected by April 6 at the latest.
Mr Radev has promised to move quickly to invite the leader of whichever party has won most votes to launch coalition talks.
-Reuters
