Despite the fact that the fifth round of parliamentary elections, which had been expected for the past two years, again ended inconclusively, when the two main political blocs – conservative and liberal – were almost equal, the rise of a nationalist and pro-Russian party could paradoxically help the latter to get out of of the permanent political crisis that Bulgaria is going through, writes the EFE agency on Monday, quoted by Agerpres.

A woman holds a poster with a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin that reads “Putin is a peaceful president” alongside a woman holding a poster with a Z sign during the annual meeting of a Russophile organization in BulgariaPhoto: MYKOLA DOYCHINOV / AFP / Profimedia

The alliance formed by former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s conservative GERB party and the Union of Democratic Forces (SKS) won Sunday’s election with 26.6 percent of the vote, ahead of a liberal bloc formed by the “Continue” parties. Change (PP) and Democratic Bulgaria (DB), also led by former Prime Minister Kyril Petkov, who was fired last year in a vote of no confidence, a bloc that won 24.7%.

Immediately behind these two pro-European political blocs, but in conditions of deep political rivalry, contrary to all electoral forecasts, is the pro-Russian nationalist party Renashteare (Revival), which won 14.2% of the vote.

In the election campaign, the leader of this party, Kostadin Kostadinov, openly advocated a referendum against Bulgaria’s entry into the euro zone (planned for 2025) and expressed clear positions in favor of Russia in the context of the war in Ukraine. Moreover, he accused the entire Bulgarian political class of being under the control of the “US Embassy”.

The unexpected rise of the “Renaissance” party may prompt the GERB-SDS and PP-DB alliances to overcome their differences and finally form a ruling coalition, especially since another failure to form a government could lead to another round of early elections.

“The election results show us that society is deeply divided”

However, it will not be easy to implement such a scenario, given how much these two political blocs hate each other, local political scientists note.

The parties in the reformist PP-DB alliance were born precisely during the 2021 protests against Boyko Borisov, whom they accuse of establishing a corrupt system in power that favors the economic oligarchy and the local mafia.

In March 2022, when Kyrylo Petkov was prime minister at the head of a four-party coalition, the leader of GERB was even arrested, but he was released the next day after the court found his detention illegal.

For his part, Borisov says of Petkov’s reformists that they are “fraudsters” responsible for “chaos and destruction” caused by the economic crisis and high inflation.

On the other hand, the leader of GERB still believes that the sixth round of elections would be equivalent to the “torture of a suicide bomber as a nation”, since then there will be a seventh round of elections.

And the liberal alliance began to receive messages about possible compromises to overcome the political crisis. “Democracy is a dialogue between those who disagree, and the election results show us what we have known for a long time, namely that society is deeply divided, so we must learn to conduct this dialogue,” he admitted in his address. on Facebook Hristo Ivanov, a well-known leader of the PP-BD alliance.

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