Bulgaria: parliamentary and presidential elections. The new-born “We Continue the Change” is top of the list. For the head of state, there will be a second ballot

The winner of the parliamentary election that took place in Bulgaria yesterday, November 14th, is the newly established party “We Continue the Change” of former ministers Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev, which received 25.36% of votes. Making its debut on Bulgaria’s political scene, “We Continue the Change” promises to fight corruption and to reform the legal system. The other news is the very low turnout – a mere 25.72% – probably due to people’s being tired of voting: as many as three elections were held in the Balkan country this year. In second place at the parliamentary election, with 21.42% of votes, after “We Continue the Change”, are the conservatives of Boyko Borissov’s Gerb, the party that has ruled the Balkan country for over 10 years. Votes increased for the Turkish minority movement (13.79%). With 10.08% of votes, the winner of the July 11th election, the showman Slavi Trifonov of “There is Such a People”, lost ground instead, followed by the Socialists, who also received fewer votes (10.25%), while the second last of the list are the Democrats of “Democratic Bulgaria” with 5.96% of votes. The 4% election threshold has been passed by “Revival”, a Centre Right party.
The voting round included voting for Parliament as well as voting for the election of the Head of State. The current Head of State, Rumen Radev, was voted by 49.15% of voters and will have to go on a runoff against the opposition leader Anastas Gerdzikov, formerly the rector of Sofia University.
Valentina Bombelli