As of: 04/02/2023 9:13 p.m
According to initial forecasts, the pro-Western bloc around ex-Prime Minister Petkov is ahead in Bulgaria in the fifth election within two years. But the lead is narrow – and forming a government will probably remain difficult.
According to the first post-election polls, the newly formed coalition of the pro-Western party “We are continuing the change” (PP) and the reform-oriented Democratic Party of Bulgaria (DB) won the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria with 25.3 percent. The GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and its smaller partner, the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS), are therefore at 24.7 percent. It was the fifth parliamentary election in two years in the EU country.
The result could still change, a spokesman for the opinion research institute Gallup International Balkan admitted on state radio in Sofia. It is certain that five parties will move into parliament. Among them, with a good 13 percent, is the pro-Russian and nationalist party Wasraschdane (Rebirth).
The razor-thin lead of the PP-DB block could probably increase with the votes of those eligible to vote abroad. The two parties were involved in a four-party government with Prime Minister Kiril Petkov (PP) until June 2022, which was overthrown by a motion of no confidence.
Are the elections leading to a political impasse?
However, the election result is unlikely to change the existing stalemate between the political forces. The mistrust of the political elites in the poorest member state of the European Union runs deep. The country has been in a political impasse since mass protests against rampant corruption in 2020, largely ruled by caretaker governments appointed by President Rumen Radev.
After the parliamentary elections in October, the various groups failed to form a coalition on three occasions, so that new elections were called in January.