Boyko Borisov's GERB Party WIns Bulgarian Election

As expected the GERB party led by Boyko Borisov seem to have had a good result in yesterday’s Bulgarian election. I suppose technically it could be called a landslide victory as looks like they had exceeded forecast of around 25% and is more likely to be over 40%. One thing is for sure, there will be a strong leader as Boyko, the former bodyguard, makes things happen. Whether they good or bad things still remains in the balance.

Mayor Boyko Borisov of Sofia, a burly former black-belt bodyguard with a penchant for tough talk, cigars and leather jackets, led his center-right opposition party to a larger-than-expected election victory on Sunday over Bulgaria’s governing Socialist-led coalition, which was weakened by a severely deteriorating economy and voter fatigue with chronic corruption.

With nearly two-thirds of the vote counted on Sunday night, Mr. Borisov’s party, the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, had 42 percent of the vote, while the Socialist-led coalition had 18 percent, less than had been anticipated. Mr. Borisov will probably be the next prime minister, if negotiations to form a coalition government are successful. Mr. Borisov’s party has become the leading political force in the country, campaigning on promises of change and bringing accountability to government.

The incumbents were punished by an electorate fed up over what many viewed as endemic abuse of power in Bulgaria, exacerbated by the country’s deteriorating relationship with the European Union, which it joined on Jan. 1, 2007.

Bulgaria lost 430 million euros — roughly $600 million — in European Union funds last year because of poor government administration and a failure to clean up graft. An additional 300 million euros in European Union funds for Bulgaria had been frozen.

Source: www.nytimes.com