Bulgarian PM ‘happy’ with European Parliament election results
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, leader of the centre-right GERB party, has pronounced himself “happy” with his party’s results in the May 2019 European Parliament elections, while again taking a sideswipe at President Roumen Radev, accusing him of having campaigned for the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
Borissov was speaking on May 27, the day after the elections, while visiting Gabrovo to inspect the construction of a ring road in the town.
With about 75 per cent of votes counted, GERB was shown as having 30.6 per cent and the BSP 24.6 per cent.
“I am happy that we are the victors, amid this hate, amid the participation of the President…we defeated the direct participation of the President against us in favour of the BSP,” Borissov said.
He thanked those who had voted for GERB for taking the trouble to go to the polls and cast a ballot.
“I thank them, today I want to show them what we are doing, why we are doing it, and in their name we do it,” he said.
Borissov said that from the results so far, “I see that in the big cities, GERB continues to be the first political force, and among younger people, active people, working people”.
With official full results still pending, GERB has not yet held a news conference. The BSP said that it would hold a news conference in the early afternoon of May 27.
Radev, commenting on May 27 on the outcome of Bulgaria’s European Parliament vote, said that the record-low turnout was not only a “slap in the face” of the country’s political class, but also raised the question why in democratic Europe, turnout was double that in Bulgaria.
He said that the results were a sign that Bulgaria “continues to recede further from Europe,” not only in quality of life and government, but also in terms of the dynamics and integrity of the processes in other countries in Europe.
