Bojko Borisov was once a firefighter and bodyguard for the Communist dictator of Bulgaria. Now he has already won the parliamentary elections for the fifth time. He has been in power almost continuously since 2009. This time Borisov loses compared to last time: his party declines from 33 to 26 percent.
But Borisov remains the largest, also because the opposition is divided. The Socialists are second with 18 percent. Behind this comes a populist party from a TV presenter with 15 percent. Furthermore, a liberal party, the party for the Turkish minority, an anti-corruption party and a right-wing nationalist party have reached the electoral threshold.
Guns and cash
Borisov’s election victory is remarkable. The prime minister came under heavy fire in his previous term. Mainly because of corruption. For example, photos surfaced with the Prime Minister in bed, with a gun on the bedside table and in the bedside table stacks of cash. It led to large demonstrations last summer.
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Also went a Facebook video viral in which an opposition politician tried to dock on a public beach. The man was violently pushed back into the sea by guards with the cameras running. The beach turned out to be taken by a corrupt politician.
The opposition politician who tried to dock is Hristo Ivanov. He once served as a minister under Borisov, until they disagreed over the power of the Bulgarian justice system. Today Ivanov with his own green-liberal party enters parliament for the first time, with 10 percent of the vote.
EU money wasted
Bulgaria has been a member of the European Union since 2007. Since then, the country has been structurally one of the poorest and most corrupt member states. The numbers are worse than other Eastern European countries that joined in the same period.
The coronavirus makes things worse: Bulgaria has one of the highest corona death rates in the EU in relative terms. Moreover, Bulgaria is one of the few European countries that has a slower injection rate than the Netherlands. The turnout today was also lower than in the previous elections, which is believed to be due to the corona virus.
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‘Is it from EU blind?’
Some protesters last summer wore signs like, “Merkel, are you blind or corrupt too?” Borisov’s party is affiliated with the European People’s Party, which also includes Merkel’s party and the Dutch CDA. Opponents of Borisov are surprised that his government receives 1.7 billion euros in European money every year, despite alarming messages about corruption and media censorship.
Yet Borisov remains the most popular politician. The prime minister claims to have good connections with European leaders, which means that he gets a lot done for Bulgaria. He lets himself, especially in campaign time, extensive filming for construction projects. Borisov presents himself as ‘man of the people’ and has good ties with the West (Bulgaria is a member of the EU and NATO) and at the same time signs gas deals with Russia.
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Coalition will be difficult
The hardest part is yet to come for Borisov: forming a coalition. His previous government partner was the right-wing nationalists, but such a coalition now gets too few seats. The socialists (second party) are infected for Borisov’s center-right supporters because of the communist past. Other parties have often campaigned against Borisov.
Yet it will also be very difficult for the opposition to forge a coalition without Borisov’s party. The prime minister seems to have survived the hot summer protest. Now a new government faces a tough task: to get new money from Brussels, this time from the EU’s corona emergency fund.
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