Bulgarian center-right GERB party gains narrow lead in snap elections

The Bulgarian center-right GERB party gained a narrow lead in snap elections held May 12, which means that controversial former-PM Boyko Borisov is back in the political hot seat.

“Bulgaria’s former prime minister, Boyko Borisov, whose party gained a slim lead at the snap polls, is expected to make his first public appearance on Thursday after an unprecedented refusal to talk to the media on election night,” Sofia news agency novinite.com reported May 16.

Borisov was mired in controversy, following the resignation of his whole cabinet in mid-February. The Bulgarian government subsequently accepted the cabinet’s resignation and an interim government was formed.

Mass demonstrations and continuing public unrest, spurred on by excessive electricity bills after a harsh winter, poverty, and alleged corruption, caused the breakdown of Boyko’s cabinet.

He was the center of a scandal, when the Balkans whistleblower, Bivol.bg, published information that the police had planned to recruit the former-PM as an undercover agent in the fight against the mafia.

He has also been known to publicly threaten media critics.

GERB gained a final result of 30.5 percent in the vote. Ataka received 7.3 percent. The Bulgarian Socialist Party gained 26.61 percent, while 11.29 percent of the population voted for the Turkish minority party, the DPS. The latter two parties will form an opposing coalition to GERB and Ataka.

Each coalition will have 120 seats in parliament.