Bulgaria’s pro-EU parties score convincing win in local elections

Bulgaria’s pro-EU parties won convincingly in the country’s local elections, and the intrigue in the second round is between the two leading parliamentary forces – the coalition between We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) or GERB, the strongest party in local government.

GERB maintains its leading position in most major cities except for Sofia, where PP-DB candidate Vasil Terziev, one of Bulgaria’s biggest IT entrepreneurs, is leading convincingly (38.8%), according to Gallup International Balkan.

In the second round, he will face Vanya Grigorova (19%), nominated by the pro-Russian left. The capital is one of the few places in the country where the left does so well.

GERB governed the capital, Sofia, for 17 years. Still, TV journalist Anton Hekimyan (17%) was not a very successful candidate for mayor of the party of long-time GERB Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. However, the final results may rearrange the rankings as the difference between Vansya Grigorova and Anton Hekimyan is about 2%, according to the exit polls.

Bulgaria’s local elections were marred by a huge scandal caused by the State Agency for National Security, which led to the cancellation of machine voting.

Four years ago, the local elections led to heavy accusations of rigging, with nearly 20% of the ballots registered invalid. Machine voting was then introduced, which eliminated the problem. Still, this type of voting was abolished after the highly questionable intervention of the special services, which filmed a deputy minister checking one of the voting machines.

The SANS report led to suspicions that voting could be rigged and the machines were removed, although the most common fraud occurs with paper ballots.

PP-DB challenges GERB’s hegemony in Bulgaria’s second and third-largest cities. GERB candidates for mayor in the other major cities of Stara Zagora and Bourgas won in the first round.

Despite great expectations, the radical anti-European party Vazrazhdane recorded weaker results in the local elections than expected, meaning it will have no mayor in any major cities.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)