GERB and protest party: head-to-head race in Bulgaria election

In Bulgaria the parliamentary elections have not yet produced a clear winner. The conservative GERB party led by ex-Prime Minister Borisov and the populist ITN party led by TV presenter Trifonov are in a head-to-head race.

The outcome of the early parliamentary elections on Sunday in Bulgaria is still unclear. According to interim official results, the bourgeois party GERB of the former head of government Boiko Borissow temporarily achieved a wafer-thin lead of 0.25 percentage points over the populist ITN (“There is such a people”) of the entertainer Slavi Trifonov.

As the Central Election Commission announced after counting a good 95 percent of the votes from within Germany, Borissov’s GERB got 23.91 percent of the votes. The second strongest force with a very small margin is then with 23.66 percent Trifonov’s system-critical ITN. The official final result should not be known until Sunday.

Result in favor of Trifonov?

According to opinion pollers, the interim result is likely to turn in favor of Trifonov once all Bulgarians’ votes abroad have been counted. On election night, opinion pollers’ forecasts had similarly changed in favor of Trifonov. Election day ended at 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning.

Trifonov’s ITN party, which was founded in 2020, is not represented in the EU Parliament, while Borissov’s GERB belongs to the European People’s Party (EPP) – as does the German CDU and CSU. The ITN aims to introduce majority voting in order to change the system of the old party elite.

Two other protest parties

According to the interim result, the opposition socialists (ex-KP) came third with 13.63 percent. It was considered certain that two more protest forces would move into parliament in Sofia: the conservative-liberal-green coalition Democratic Bulgaria DB and “Stand up! Mafiosi out!”. A total of six parties have overcome the four percent hurdle – but not the nationalists.

With this distribution of forces, the anti-Borisov camp failed to gain an absolute majority in parliament. His opponents rule out a collaboration with Borisov’s GERB, as they accuse Borisov’s former coalition government of corrupt practices. Borissov is unlikely to find a partner to govern again.

Deep division in the poorest EU country

The result highlights the deep divisions in the poorest country in the European Union. Despite allegations of corruption, Borisov’s party won the last vote in April, but failed to form a government.

Borisov’s previous government – his third with a short break – had come under massive criticism for corruption allegations. The current interim government, set up by the head of state Rumen Radew, revealed numerous abuses, corruption practices and failures of the old GERB government.

Election in Bulgaria: GERB in front

Andrea Beer, ARD Vienna, July 12th, 2021 7:58 am