Status: 11/15/2021 5:49 p.m.
In the third attempt Bulgaria can hope for a new government. The new anti-corruption party “We continue the change” wins the election according to the official interim results. It received more than 25 percent of the vote.
The new anti-corruption party “We are continuing the change” (PP) won the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria according to preliminary results. As the electoral commission announced after counting three-quarters of the ballot papers, the party founded just a few weeks ago by two Harvard graduates received 25.3 percent of the vote.
The former interim ministers Kiril Petkow and Assen Wassilew, the party founders, are now given a good chance of forming a coalition government in Sofia after a month-long stalemate. If the result is confirmed, Kiril Petkow, the 41-year-old PP chairman, will be awarded the contract.
The opposition center-right party GERB of the former Prime Minister Boiko Borissow came to 22 percent according to the interim result.
After the parliamentary elections in April and July did not produce a majority-strong government, many Bulgarians hoped that it would now work on the third attempt.
Top priority: “zero corruption”
A total of seven parties, including a nationalist one, are likely to move into the newly elected parliament. “The success of the two (Harvard graduates) lies in the fact that they offered a positive agenda,” said the renowned political scientist Parvan Simeonov on the election agenda of Petkov and Vasilev. Her top priority is “zero corruption” in Bulgaria, which, according to Transparency International, is one of the most corrupt EU countries.
Petkov and Vasilev, the 44-year-old co-chair of the PP, exposed the misuse of state funds, which earned them broad public support. The two were ministers of economics and finance in the previous executive cabinet. Many analysts attribute the new party’s unexpected victory to its promises to ensure transparency and reform and to take uncompromising action against corruption.
Petkow announced an overdue judicial reform. Control over public money and more innovation are further reform goals.
Country needs a “functioning government”
The two former businessmen Petkov and Vasilev had only founded their anti-corruption movement in September. “Bulgaria is treading a new path,” said Petkov after the polling stations closed. And: Bulgaria now needs “a normal, functioning government”.
His movement is ready to work with all parties that have declared war on corruption. “Left, middle or right, it doesn’t matter.”
Negotiations with other parties
Petkov, who is running for the office of prime minister, announced “transparent” negotiations with the right-wing alliance Democratic Bulgaria and the protest party ITN of the singer Slavi Trifonov. According to experts, the Social Democrats could be another coalition partner.
Most parties consider Borisov to be an “unacceptable” partner after the massive anti-corruption protests last year and numerous revelations about the misuse of public funds. This would mean that “We are continuing the change” would have a good chance of forming a coalition with other opposition parties.
The entry of the right-wing extremist party “Rebirth” into the new parliament caused a sensation, rejecting any kind of vaccination or protective measures in the midst of the severe Corona crisis in the country.
In addition to the violent fourth wave of the corona pandemic, Bulgaria is facing many other mountains of problems: rising energy prices, impending economic crisis and, last but not least, a blockade of EU admission talks with North Macedonia by Sofia.
President wants to convene parliament quickly
President Rumen Radew announced that he wanted to convene parliament as soon as possible. “I hope the parties will overcome their differences this time (…) and we will have a stable majority that will form a government,” he said.
Radew himself is aiming for re-election, as his term of office as head of state ends in early January 2022. Although he won the first round of the presidential election on Sunday with a good 49 percent, a runoff election should decide whether he will remain in office for another five years. Radew’s challenger is the rector of Sofia University, Anastas Gerdschikow, who comes in second with around 22 percent.