Elections in Bulgaria: an anti-corruption movement neck and neck with the conservatives

These elections were held as Bulgaria, the least vaccinated country in the EU, is hit by a new wave of Covid-19.

AP - Valentina Petrova

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

In Bulgaria, the third legislative elections of the year were held this Sunday at the same time as the presidential one.

With a considerable drop in the participation rate to 38.9%. 

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The preliminary results are very close.

The Gerb party of former conservative Prime Minister Boyko Borissov leads the general elections,

, with 24.8% of the vote.

He is pursued by the party We continue the change, founded just a few months ago by two interim ministers, which credited with 24.1% of the vote.

The difference between the two parties is so small that it could change with the official count and the votes of expatriates.

Anti-system singer Slavi Trifonov, who pulled off a victory in the previous election before failing to form a government, plummeted from 24% to less than 10% of the vote.

Either way, the political landscape will depend on the talks, says our correspondent in Sofia,

. The electoral system in Bulgaria is proportional, which means that a coalition is needed to form a government. The three reformist and anti-system parties say they are ready to unite, while Boyko Borissov's Gerb party has been isolated since the anti-government protests in the summer of 2020.

For the presidential election, no surprise. 

, leads the race at the end of the first round with 49% of the vote, against 25% for his closest competitor, the rector of the University of Sofia Anastas Gerdjikov, supported by Gerb.

The head of state, who became popular by supporting the anti-corruption rallies in the summer of 2020, should therefore easily win on November 21.

These new elections took place in the middle of the fourth wave of Covid-19, in the least vaccinated country in the EU.

Hospitals are overwhelmed by coronavirus cases and nearly 200 people die every day, in this Balkan country where less than a quarter of the 6.9 million inhabitants are fully vaccinated.

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