Bulgaria: PM Borissov To Resign After Presidential Election Defeat

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has said he will step down after the candidate his party backed in the presidential elections, speaker of parliament Tsetska Tsacheva, got only 35 per cent in Sunday’s run-off vote.

According to local media, Borissov also called for an early parliamentary election after the centre-right Tsacheva’s defeat.

The announcement came after Rumen Radev, who favours stronger ties with Russia, won Bulgaria’s presidential election on Sunday.

Radev, the candidate backed by the opposition Socialist Party, won 58 per cent of the vote, according to exit poll data.

Borissov earlier pledged to step down if Tsacheva lost the first round of the election, but backtracked and said he would do so if the run-off was lost.

Borissov on Sunday congratulated Radev on his victory, and his voters for “having changed the political situation”.

“From the results it’s clear that the governing coalition has no majority and cannot even pass the budget,” said the Bulgarian premier, according to local media.

Borissov has called on President Rosen Plevneliev to appoint an interim government using a list presumably handed by the Bulgarian oppsotion Socialist Party, BSP, which backed Radev.

A newcomer to politics, former air force commander Radev is thought of as Russia-friendly, with a strong anti-migrant stance.

Despite this, Radev told Bulgarian National Radio that he supported Bulgaria’s clear Euro-Atlantic orientation.

“Why should Europhilia definitely mean Russophobia?” Radev asked, adding that such a polarity was unhealthy.

“Until recently, I flew on a Soviet jet fighter. I graduated from a US academy. But I am a Bulgarian general. My cause is Bulgaria,” Radev said ahead of Sunday’s polls.
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