Bulgaria's GERB wins election, seeks coalition allies

Bulgaria's GERB party, led by veteran ex-prime minister Boyko Borissov (EPP), won snap parliamentary elections but faces difficult negotiations to form a government with the pro-European coalition We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and at least one other party.

According to preliminary results from the state election commission based on a partial vote count, GERB won 26.08% of the votes.

The reformist We Continue the Change (PP) party came second with 14.76%, the commission website showed after counting more than 82% of the votes, while the ultra-nationalist Revival party came third with 13.8%.

Next was the DPS-A New Beginning of tycoon Delyan Peevski - sanctioned by the US under the Global Magnitsky Act - who won 8.9%, according to the exit polls - with most votes coming from the fragmented party of Bulgaria's Turkish minority.

Sunday's election, the seventh in four years, was triggered by the failure of Bulgaria's political parties to agree on forming a coalition government after an inconclusive election on June 9.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov thanked voters for their support and said his party would form a new government.

"We will work together with everyone except Revival," he said.

Bulgaria has been run by short-lived governments since 2020, when anti-graft protests helped to end a coalition led by the GERB party.

Bulgaria needs a period of stable, well-functioning government to accelerate the flow of European Union funds into its creaking infrastructure and nudge it towards adoption of the euro.

Plans to join the eurozone have already been pushed back twice because of missed inflation targets. Accession is currently slated for Jan. 25, 2025.

Turnout was relatively low at 38%, although it was still lower than the 34.41% turnout in June, which was a historic low for parliamentary elections following the changes of 1989.