Victory announced in Bulgaria for the outgoing head of state Rumen Radev who, in the presidential run-off, according to the first preliminary results, far outstripped the challenger Anastas Ghergikov. Supported by the socialists, Radev in fact obtained the 65.7% of the votes, according to the first exit polls of the Gallup international broadcast on public TV Bnt, clearly beating his rival, backed by the former premier’s conservative Gerb party Boyko Borissov, which collected 31.5% of the votes. The turnout, according to the calculations of the central electoral commission, would have been very low – the latest figure relating to 16 clubs (15 Italian), four hours before the closing of the polling stations, spoke of little more than 24% of participation.
Rumen Radev, 58, is a general retired, former head of the Bulgarian Air Force. He does not belong to any political group. Even if supported by the Socialist Party, Radev, according to the polls, would have received not a few votes even from supporters of other political groups. During the election campaign he did not question Bulgaria’s membership in EU e Then, but he pointed out that in foreign policy one must be pragmatic. “The annexation of Crimea is in violation of international law, but there are political realities and at the moment Crimea is Russian,” Radev said last Friday during a televised confrontation with Ghergikov. And he added that the EU sanctions against Russia are counterproductive and that the summit EU-Russia it should be reinstated to resolve the issue at the negotiating table. Regarding Bulgaria’s veto on the start of negotiations for North Macedonia’s entry into the EU, Radev reiterated that Skopje is not yet ready to begin the process, referring to the neighboring country’s anti-Bulgarian policy.
During his first term in office, Radev consistently fulfilled his commitment to fight corruption. He openly encouraged the thousands of protesters who took to the streets every day for several months last year to protest in big cities demanding the resignation of conservative Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, leader of the Gerb. Then, in a message to the nation, Radev said that “the Bulgarians have rebelled against corruption and the unscrupulous lies of the rulers” and that “the increasing collusion of the government with the mafia had forced them, regardless of their political affiliations. , to raise demands for legality and the return of fundamental civil liberties “. Not a few analysts note that Radev, during his second term, will find himself much more comfortable following success in the anticipated policies of last Sunday of the new center-right party ‘Let’s continue the change’ (CC), which has its main objective in the fight against corruption. The CC entered parliament as the first political force and will get the first exploratory mandate from Radev to form a new government. Its two leaders, Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev, were economics and finance ministers of the first interim government appointed by President Radev after the vote last April, which was followed by early elections in July.
Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic and the powers of the head of state are limited and mostly representative, but nevertheless the president is elected by universal suffrage. His term of office is five years and can be renewed only once. The latest elections in Bulgaria took place against the backdrop of a health situation alarming for the strong resumption of the pandemic. Even if in recent days there has been a decline in new infections, the number of deaths remains high and the percentage of people who have completed the vaccination cycle is low, to date just under the 25%.