Bulgaria's Radev Calls for Dialogue with Russia to Be Restored
Speaking to reporters as early exit polls confirmed his party's commanding lead, the EU-skeptic Radev sought to temper expectations of a sharp break with the bloc, insisting Bulgaria would remain "on its European path," while simultaneously arguing that both Sofia and the EU require "more critical thinking" in their approach to foreign policy.
Invoking prominent European voices to reinforce his case for Russia engagement, Radev stated: "Ask [French President Emmanuel] Macron, the prime minister of Belgium, ask other European leaders, including [German] Chancellor [Friedrich] Merz, who said that this dialogue [with Russia] must be restored." He framed renewed engagement as essential to shaping Europe's future security architecture and arresting its industrial decline, adding: "If we want Europe to have real strategic autonomy… Europe must think very seriously about how it will secure its resources, because without energy resources we cannot talk about competitiveness."
Radev went further, contending that the bloc had eroded its own standing by chasing moral leadership in what he characterized as a world without rules, and that the moment now demands hard-nosed pragmatism over idealism.
The numbers behind the victory are stark. With 96.4% of ballots counted as of Monday morning, Progressive Bulgaria commanded 44.7% of the vote—more than three times the share of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's once-dominant GERB-SDS, which managed just 13.4%. Caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov's PP-DB trailed further still at 12.9%.
Crucially, preliminary projections indicate Progressive Bulgaria has already surpassed the 121-seat threshold required for a majority in the 240-seat National Assembly, with estimates placing the party's haul at between 131 and 134 seats—sufficient to govern without the need for coalition partners.
Radev characterized the outcome as a "victory of hope over mistrust," crediting his party with overcoming widespread voter apathy, though he candidly acknowledged that deep-seated distrust toward the political class persists. He indicated he would address questions on government formation and potential coalition arrangements only once the final official results are in.
Monday's vote is Bulgaria's eighth general election in five years, a sobering marker of the country's prolonged political paralysis. The dysfunction traces back to 2021, when Borissov stepped down under the weight of corruption allegations, ushering in a succession of unpopular caretaker administrations that have governed without a stable mandate ever since.
Radev himself is no political newcomer—he served as Bulgaria's president from 2017 until stepping aside in January to mount his prime ministerial bid, running explicitly on a platform of ending the institutional gridlock and confronting endemic corruption. Progressive Bulgaria, though formally established less than two months before the election, rode his profile and populist appeal to its landslide result.
His record on EU and Ukraine policy is well-documented and contentious. Radev has been a persistent critic of the bloc's approach to the Ukraine war, opposed Bulgaria's embargo on Russian energy, moved to block a 2022 proposal to supply Kyiv with armored vehicles, and maintained that no military resolution to the conflict exists.
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