The pro-Russian former president Rumen Radev is on course for a runaway victory in Bulgaria’s election, official results show, potentially ending years of weak coalition governments and sidelining long-dominant political forces.
The performance, surpassing opinion polls, is one of the strongest results by a single party in a generation and may end, for now, the instability that led to eight elections in five years.
Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party had 44.6% of the vote after 60% of ballots were counted, suggesting it could rule alone in a strong minority government, though he has not ruled out a coalition with a pro-European group or a smaller party.
Progressive Bulgaria’s tally put it far ahead of the pro-European We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition on 14.2%, and the long-dominant GERB party, led by the former prime minister Boyko Borissov, on 13%.
“This is a victory of hope over distrust, a victory of freedom over fear, and finally, if you will, a victory of morality,” Radev told a press conference late on Sunday. Final results are expected on Monday.
A Eurosceptic and a former fighter pilot opposed to military support for Ukraine’s war effort against Moscow, Radev stepped down from the presidency in January to run in the parliamentary election after mass protests forced out the previous government in December.
He rode a wave of frustration with political instability in the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people, where voters are sick of corruption and the veteran parties that have dominated politics for decades.
Evelina Koleva, a manager at a digital marketing company in Sofia, said: “There is now an opportunity for the things people have been hoping to see change to actually become visible.”