Content will continue after the ad
Advertising
–
According to the results of the 61% ballot paper, the PP was set up by two of the temporary government ministers in September, with 25.4% of the vote.
The caretaker cabinet was set up because, following the extraordinary elections in July and the April elections, the parties were unable to agree on a new government.
However, preliminary count counts suggest that the next parliamentary term will be even more fragmented than the previous two, with seven parties represented in the National Assembly.
GERB is in second place, with 22.2% of Bulgarians voting in favor.
Meanwhile, former head of state Rumen Rudev has won the first round of the presidential election, which also took place on Sunday, with 49.2% of the vote, and he is expected to win his second term effortlessly in the second round of elections scheduled for November 21.
Experts believe that the PP, formed by two Harvard-educated entrepreneurs, is more likely to form a majority coalition involving the Socialists and the two smaller anti-bliss parties that formed during last year’s protests that led to the fall of the GERB government.
For decades, the former Socialists in the opposition have won 10.2% of the vote, while the right-wing Democratic Bulgaria“supported by 6% of voters.
Meanwhile, the populist party “There is a Nation” (ITN), founded by television star Slavi Trifonov, which won 24% of the vote in July, ahead of GERB in a hair trial, has lost its popularity because it failed to form a government. Only 9.8% of Bulgarians voted in favor of ITN on Sunday.
Voter turnout in Sunday’s election is only about 40%, falling to a record low.
The forthcoming coalition talks are expected to be difficult.
“Forming a government (..) will be more difficult, as the majority will need at least four parties,” said Dobromir Zhivkov, chief executive of market research firm Market Links.
PP leader Kirill Petkov said on Sunday he would be open to dialogue and compromise, but would not deviate from his pre-election campaign promises to reform the judiciary and fight corruption.
Petkov hopes to become Bulgaria’s next prime minister, while the party’s other co-founder, Asen Vasilyev, is running for finance.
–
