SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgarians began voting in parliamentary elections on Sunday to decide whether long-serving prime minister Boyko Borissov wins a new four-year term despite lingering concerns about corruption in the largest member state. poor of the European Union.
Opinion polls suggest Borissov’s center-right GERB will once again be the largest party, with 28-29% of the vote, but will not reach a majority and may fight to build a stable coalition in a more fractured.
This could hamper Bulgaria’s ability to effectively leverage the EU’s € 750 billion ($ 884 billion) recovery fund to help rebuild the bloc’s economy following the coronavirus pandemic.
Borissov, 61, a former firefighter in power almost without interruption since 2009, has tried to show his successes in modernizing Bulgaria’s crunchy infrastructure during a discreet campaign conducted when COVID-19 hit the country.
“We have shown what we have achieved,” Borissov said after voting, thanking his allies in the conservative European People’s Party for their support.
He also thanked the European Commission, the EU executive, for an additional 1.3 million vaccines against the COVID-19 vaccine, which the country will receive in the second quarter.
More than 6.7 million Bulgarians are eligible to vote, but pollsters expect low turnout due to voters ’concerns about COVID-19 and a slow deployment of the vaccine.
Bulgaria registered an average of about 4,000 new coronavirus cases a day in March and has the second coronavirus-related mortality rate in the EU after Hungary, according to the online scientific publication Our World in Data.
While the hospitals are full, the government eased some blockade restrictions before the vote, allowing restaurants to serve outdoor customers and cinemas and gyms to run at 30% capacity. Kindergartens will reopen on Monday.
CORRUPTION
The Borissov government has presided over a 36% increase in the average monthly salary to 1,468 pesos ($ 882), has kept public debt low and secured entry into the “waiting room” to enter the currency of the euro.
But its failure to tackle endemic corruption and reform the judiciary brought thousands of protesters to the streets for months during 2020.
Protesters accused Borissov of welcoming local oligarchs and channeling EU aid to companies close to GERB, allegations he denies.
President Rumen Radev, who criticizes Borissov but plays a mostly ceremonial role, says Bulgaria needs new faces and ideas.
The main opposition Socialists campaigned to restore confidence in state institutions and reduce poverty, but they have been hampered by internal disputes and are expected to win 20-22% of the vote.
An anti-elite party led by TV presenter Slavi Trifonov looks set to finish third with 13%. Trifonov says he opposes any coalition with major parties, raising the specter of a blocked parliament if his party works well.
He is closely followed by the Turkish MRF ethnic party.
Democratic Bulgaria and Stand Up! Mafia Out !, driven by the protests, is also expected to win seats. GERB’s coalition partner, the nationalist VMRO party, is close to the 4% threshold, according to polls.
Surveys will close at 20:00 (1700 gmt).
(The sixth paragraph is corrected to show that 1.3 million vaccines will arrive in the second quarter, instead of Friday)
Reports by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Edited by Gareth Jones and Timothy Heritage