SOFIA, (MILLAT/APP/AFP) – Bulgaria’s veteran
political bruiser Boyko Borisov was due Monday to begin tough talks to form a lasting government and become prime minister for the third time.
On Sunday Borisov’s pro-EU centre-right GERB party came first in a
snap election in the European Union’s poorest country with 33 percent of the vote, according to projections from polling firms.
The burly Borisov, a former firefighter and bodyguard, saw off a
stiff challenge from the Socialist Party (BSP), seen as closer to Moscow, which garnered 28 percent.
“I hope we can ensure the rapid formation of a government that
responds to the wishes of the people and to the grave international situation,” Borisov said late Sunday.
But whether the 57-year-old can form an administration — and one
that stays the course and is effective, unlike his previous two attempts — remains to be seen.
Bulgaria, where the average monthly salary is just 500 euros ($540)
and corruption is rife even after 10 years in the EU, has now seen three elections in four years.
In the first half of next year, Bulgaria will hold the rotating
presidency of the EU in the midst of Britain’s negotiations with Brussels on the terms of its exit from the bloc.
Borisov, once a bodyguard for Bulgaria’s last communist leader and
its ex-king, has long dominated national politics, serving as premier from 2009 to 2013 and again from 2014 to 2017.
But both times Borisov quit early, first in 2013 after mass protests
and then last November after his candidate for the presidency was beaten by an air force commander backed by the BSP.
And his reform efforts, in particular in meeting Brussels’ demands to
tackle corruption and organised crime, failed to get off the ground both times.