Ex-PM Borisov wins Bulgarian election
The conservative GERB party led by the controversial former prime minister Boyko Borisov has won Bulgaria's parliamentary elections - the fourth within two years - securing 25.4 percent of the vote. The liberal movement We Continue the Change, led by Kiril Petkov, whose pro-European coalition collapsed in June, came second with 20.2 percent. Commentators are disappointed.
Voters bring back the corrupt elite
Bulgarians are shying away from making clear decisions on the country's direction, laments Deutsche Welle's Bulgarian service:
“In these elections, Bulgarians made their choice on the question of whether they want to go with Russia or with the rest of the world. But they didn't resolve the other, no less important question of whether they really want to abandon the feudal-criminal social model imposed by GERB and DPS [the party of the Turkish minority]. Are they really tired of being robbed? And do they finally want to stop just pretending to be part of the Western world and really join it? ... This will take time, because the Bulgarians' peculiarity of not giving in to extremes has a dark side: the inability to adopt and defend clear positions.”
Legitimacy of institutions called into question
Bulgaria is experiencing a veritable crisis of democracy, comments the taz:
“Only 30 percent of Bulgarians made their way to the polls on Sunday - the lowest figure since 1989! What could be a better indicator of the frustration, apathy and disappointment? When the sovereign people voluntarily abandon their political rights, the legitimacy of the political institutions is called into question. ... Bulgaria will not return to stable political conditions in the near future. In view of the Ukraine war, an energy crisis and galloping inflation, this is really bad news.”