Bulgaria's GERB wins election, coalition talks in sight

Bulgaria's centre-right GERB party won a parliamentary election on Sunday, preliminary results showed, but it will have to seek a coalition partner to form a government.

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 on Monday morning after counting more than 82% of the votes, while the ultra-nationalist Revival party came third with 13.8%.

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.

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GERB leader Boyko Borissov on Monday morning 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.

Many voters said they feared further uncertainty ahead.

"Even if they manage to form a government, I don’t give it a high chance of a successful and healthy lifespan in terms of the next four years," Stoyan Danin, 37, in Sofia told Reuters.