Rumen Radev, a Russia-aligned former president, scored an emphatic win in Bulgaria's election on Sunday, crushing long-established parties that he accused of being part of an oligarchic "mafia state." The election was the Balkan country's eighth in five years — amid rolling political crises and fragile coalitions — and 62-year-old former air force commander Radev used his newly created Progressive Bulgaria party to break the impasse. With 61 percent of ballots counted, it looked like he had effectively overturned Bulgaria's old political order, winning about 45 percent of the vote. A pro-EU liberal reformist coalition was in second place, with about 14 percent. Both Radev and the second-placed liberals cast Sunday's results as a historic defeat for Bulgaria's oligarchic model that they said was represented by the GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the DPS-New Beginning party of Delyan Peevski. The preliminary results showed GERB won only 13 percent of the vote and DPS only 5 percent. "We voted in numbers, we defeated apathy. But distrust in Bulgarian politics is still high and we have a lot of work ahead of us. This is just the first step," he told reporters Radev also hinted he could find common ground with the pro-Brussels reformist camp over shaking up the corruption-plagued judiciary — seen as one of the main levers of power for the Bulgarian mafia. Radev has established his political reputation by casting himself as an opponent of the nexus between mobsters and politics. Just before Sunday's election, he slammed Borissov and Peevski for sitting atop of the "oligarchic pyramid" running the mafia state. But his opponents argue his policies often align with the Kremlin's, particularly on the war in Ukraine. Radev has encouraged Ukraine to sue for peace, does not support sending arms to Kyiv and says his insistence that Crimea is "Russian" simply reflects a strategic reality. He is also a critic of Sofia's accession to the euro this year, arguing the new currency has stoked inflation. In his remarks after voting on Sunday morning, Radev said the election was an opportunity to "take back" the country from oligarchs, but also called for relations of "mutual respect" with Moscow, based on Russia's role in liberating Bulgaria from the Ottoman empire in 1878. While these positions have helped him build up a base of support at home, he has avoided direct confrontation with the West and has generally fallen in step with the European mainstream when attending European Council meetings in Brussels. European funds are vital to the EU's poorest member country and Bulgarian leaders have traditionally avoided any provocative antics in Brussels in the style of outgoing Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán. A senior EU diplomat said Radev was nowhere close to Orbán as a disruptive force. They said Radev was in a "much different league" when it comes to his ability, and desire, to upend policy. He and others like Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico "don't come close [to Orbán] in experience, tenacity, network and ideas," the diplomat added. In the days before the election, former MiG-29 pilot Radev pushed back against the accusations that he was pro-Russian.
