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The winner of Bulgaria’s parliamentary elections last month, Rumen Radev, was named the country’s new prime minister on Thursday. His landslide win in last month’s parliamentary election raises hopes for a stable government in the Balkan nation, which has seen eight elections in the space of five years.
Radev ran on a ticket focused on fighting corruption and “cleaning up” what he described as Bulgaria’s “oligarchic model”. Radev, who resigned earlier this year as president to participate in the election, is a staunch EU critic, and has campaigned on resuming dialogue with Russia.
“(Through the vote, Bulgarians) confirmed their desire for stable institutions and for the defence of freedom, democracy and justice,” said Radev after receiving the mandate to govern from President Iliana Iotova.
The 62-year-old former fighter pilot also presented his cabinet line-up on Thursday.
Radev inherits a series of challengese, including drafting a 2026 budget, addressing rising inflation and reforming a paralysed judicial system.
He must also undertake a series of reforms, particularly against corruption, to unlock nearly €400 million in funds from the European Union. Radev and his cabinet members are set to be confirmed by parliament on Friday.
Last month’s election delivered the first outright majority for a single formation in Bulgaria since 1997.
The poor Balkan nation of 6.5 million people has been plagued with political crises since anti-corruption rallies rocked the country in 2021, bringing down the conservative administration of long-time pro-European leader Boyko Borissov.
The latest conservative-backed government resigned last year after a series of anti-graft protests, which Radev supported. Bulgaria ranks as the EU’s most corrupt country alongside Hungary in Transparency International’s corruption perception index.
Additional sources • AFP