Bulgaria Election: Radev's Party Wins in Landslide
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- Radev's Progressive Bulgaria leads Alpha Research exit polls at 44% (updated), far ahead of long-dominant GERB at 12.5% — what Reuters calls potentially one of the strongest single-party results in a generation
- Bulgaria could end years of coalition instability (eight elections in five years) if Radev secures a parliamentary majority in the 240-seat parliament
- Radev, a eurosceptic former fighter pilot who stepped down as president in January, opposes military support for Ukraine, compared himself to Hungary's Viktor Orban, and called for restoring Russian oil and gas flows to Europe
- Turnout climbed to 47% with one hour of voting remaining, up sharply from 39% in the October 2024 election
- Radev opened the door to coalition talks with the pro-European PP-DB (11.3%) on judicial reform, with a minority government also possible; PP-DB finished third in the exit polls
- Bulgaria joined the euro zone in January — a move Radev criticized — and the previous government fell in December after mass protests over tax increases and higher social security contributions
- GERB's Boyko Borissov conceded in a Facebook post but cautioned: "To win the elections is one thing; to govern is quite another. Elections decide who comes first, but negotiations will decide who governs."
Why it matters: A pro-Russian eurosceptic winning 44% in an EU and NATO member on the bloc's southeastern flank could complicate European unity on Russia policy and Ukraine support. Radev's openness to coalition with pro-European PP-DB may moderate his stance, but cost-of-living anger after January's euro adoption delivered him a mandate he never had as president.
