Former Russian President Rumen Radev has won Bulgariaparliamentary elections by a landslide, the official results showed on Monday, crushing the long-ruling political forces and possibly pushing EU and Nato member states near Moscow.
The performance, exceeding poll predictions, is one of the strongest results for a single party in a generation and may end, for now, the instability that has led to eight elections in five years.
Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party had 44.7 percent of the vote after 97.52 percent of the vote was counted, suggesting it could rule on its own, but he has not ruled out a pro-European coalition or minor party.
Progressive Bulgaria’s tally put the European-backed We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition ahead with 12.8 percent and the long-ruling GERB party, led by former prime minister Boyko Borissov, with 13.4 percent.
A Eurosceptic pilot and former fighter who opposed military aid to The war in Ukraine efforts against Moscow, Radev resigned from the presidency of Bulgaria with much ceremony in January to run in parliamentary elections after mass protests forced out the previous government in December.
He faced a wave of frustration and political instability in the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people, where voters are sick of corruption and old parties that have dominated politics for decades.
