The bulky mayor of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is a former black-belt bodyguard who presides over the center-right opposition party which follows democratic principles, GERB. They declared victory after almost 100 percent of the votes were counted early this week.
Deputies from the GERB Party of which Mr. Borisov is the leader numbers 116, falling only five seats short for a clear majority in the parliament.
“I vote for a European Bulgaria, which has to prove that it is not the poorest and most corrupt country in Europe,” said Mr. Borisov after voting.
Over the last weekend, throngs of Bulgarian voters came to the polls to cast ballots for ”change.” Discontent with the country’s socialist-led government has grown after what some experts call an endemic abuse of power, citing that the government had seriously undermined the relationship between Bulgaria and the European Union.
Bulgaria, a former communist nation with a population of less than eight million people joined the European Union in 2007 and is known as the European Union’s poorest member, lost access to over half a billion Euros (USD $700 million) in EU funds last year as punishment for graft.
An additional 300 million Euros for Bulgaria had been frozen due to poor government administration and inability to tackle corruption.
Mr. Borisov has promised to move fast on reforms and reiterated his campaign promises to make swift changes.
“Those who have stolen should be very afraid ... the thieves will go to jail,” Mr.Borisov said. “All officials who are guilty of any suspension of the European Union funds should seek a new job.”
The new government will have to quickly improve economic and judiciary policy pressured by the European Union in order to avoid new sanctions on financial aid. Bulgaria, one of the most recent members of the European Union needs funding badly to keep its cash-strapped economy afloat and to attract investors.
The country is also threatened to face a budget deficit, coming after years of surplus. Months of pre-election spending by socialists has depleted the country’s hard currency reserves which could exacerbate the Lev’s (the Bulgarian currency) peg to the Euro.
“Once our experts examine what’s the actual situation of the budget, it will come out publicly and say whether it is necessary to make an agreement with the International Monetary Fund,” said Mr.Borisov.
1.6 million Bulgarians voted for the opposition party, GERB, according to a spokesperson from the country’s Central Election Commission.
The next Bulgarian Parliament will include six parties. The opposition party GERB will take the majority of the seats in the parliament, numbering 116, followed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (successor of the Bulgarian Communist Party), which has ruled the country so far, and its leader—Sergey Stanishev was the country’s Prime Minister. The socialists gained 17.7 percent of the votes which will translate into 40 seats in the parliament.
Bulgaria reported the highest election activity for years—about 70 percent. There were no serious violations on the Election Day. Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, however, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation, which were in Bulgaria as observers, will seek to impose monitoring on Bulgaria.
The Experts said that the outcome of the elections reflect the votes of voters but are concerned about phenomena such as “vote buying” and “electoral tourism” associated with the votes of Bulgarian ethnic Turks.
Media coverage in the country focused heavily on six criminal candidates who stood in the election to avoid prosecution.
Loopholes in the law of the European Union newcomer allowed defendants facing serious criminal charges including embezzlement, the trafficking of women, and the distribution of narcotics to register as candidates in the election, and to secure release from custody and temporary immunity from prosecution. If elected, the criminal candidates would have received permanent immunity.
