Early legislative elections, called after the Socialist Rumen Radev won the presidential election last November, have strengthened his party’s position, but not enough to allow him to form a new government. That task goes to the former prime minister, Boyko Borissov the leader of the pro-European liberal right forces. Although it is too early to say how this power-sharing arrangement will work out, we can already count on the continuity of macroeconomic policies. The economic situation has improved significantly over the past two years, with the acceleration of growth and the improvement in the external accounts. The banking sector took advantage of this improvement to pursue restructuring.
The right wing returns to power
Early elections were held on 26 March 2017 after Rumen Radev, the new president elected in November 2016, dissolved parliament. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the new president’s party, came in second in the legislative elections, with 27.2% of the vote. The Socialists managed to strengthen their position with 80 seats in the new parliament, up from 39 seats in 2014-2016, but this was still not enough to form a new government. The centre-right Citizens for European Development (GERB), the party of the former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, came in first with 32.7% of the vote, and won 95 out of a total of 240 seats. The United Patriots (27 seats) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which represents the Turkish minority, also managed to cross the 4% threshold for parliamentary representation.
For the third time, Boyko Borissov is preparing to be named prime minister. He first took the helm in 2009-2013 and again in 2014- 2016, before resigning in November 2016. GERB has consolidated its position after its candidate, Tsetska Tsacheva, was defeated in the presidential elections in November 2016 (which led to Borissov’s resignation). GERB managed to win eleven extra parliamentary seats, but not enough to form a government on its own. The party will have to form an alliance with one of the minority parties. In the absence of the Reformist Bloc, which failed to exceed the 4% threshold for parliamentary representation, the most likely partner for a new coalition government is the right-wing nationalist party, United Patriots.
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by Anna DORBEC