site.btaSocialist-backed Candidate Wins Presidential Runoffs in Bulgaria - Exit Polls

Socialist-backed Candidate Wins Presidential Runoffs in Bulgaria - Exit Polls

Sofia, November 13 (BTA) - The Socialist-backed Rumen Radev won the second round of presidential elections in Bulgaria on November 14, according to exit polls. Polling agency announced that he leads with close to 60 per cent of the votes against some 35 per cent for the candidate of the ruling GERB party, Tsetska Tsacheva.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov confirmed earlier in the day that GERB will leave the government if their candidate fails to win the runoffs.

The first exit poll results of the different polling agencies as announced at 8 p.m. on voting date are as follows:

Alpha Research
Radev 58.1 per cent
Tsacheva 35.3 per cent

Market Links
Radev 58.23 per cent
Tsacheva 35.25 per cent

Gallup
Radev 58.5 per cent
Tsacheva 35.7 per cent.

Just under 7 per cent of the voters on Sunday chose the "None of the above" option on the ballot.

The exit polls also showed a turnout of 47-48 per cent.

Radev practically doubled his result from the first round.

According to Alpha Research, he won over 11per cent (220,000 votes) from the presidential candidate of the United Patriots, Krassimir Karakachanov, and 10 per cent (200,000 votes) from independent candidate Plamen Oresharski, who was backed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

The leader of the nomination committee who put forward Radev's nomination, Stefan Danailov, told bTV that the Bulgarian Socialist Party is going to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Borissov later this evening.

Analysts commented that Bulgasria is in for a special situation in which the President is not allowed to disband Parliament in the last three months of his tenure but he is required to appoint a caretaker government.

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Following are the highlights of comments by political and social analysts in the studios of the Bulgarian National TV, Nova TV, bTV and the national radio:

Ognyan Minchev:
With these results, a government resignation is inevitable.

Yuri Aslanov:
What happened will have very serious repercussions in Bulgaria's political life. The ruling majority is coming apart but it is important how this happens. There are two scenarios. In one we have a political crisis. In the other we have a civilized and constitutional way, in which the political players do not allow escalation of tensions in society.

Andrei Raichev:
The era in which Boyko Borissov tells what happens in this country has ended, this is a fact,

A peculiar constitutional situation has emerged in that "outgoing President Rosen Plevneliev may not disband Parliament but must appoint a caretaker cabinet". The worst would be to have two interim governments, one appointed by Plevneliev and one by President-elect Radev.

Kuncho Stoichev:
"I do not mean that Borissov is leaving the political stage. On the contrary, GERB is a string party and will most likely perform well at the next general elections."

Boris Popivanov:
The elections put paid to the famous charisma of Borissov, but not to his political future. The election outcome showed that Borissov is unable to steer reputation onto other figures. His word is no longer enough to mobilize the nation. Borissov can act as a very good balancing figure among different political forces but he is no longer the person whom people are ready to follow anywhere.

The big difference between the two candidates comes because the Bulgarians looked for change and found it embodied in the figure of Radev.