By Edward McAllister and Stoyan Nenov
SOFIA, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Rumen Radev painted a bleak picture of Bulgarian politics when he resigned as president on Monday in an unprecedented move that capped four years of weak governments and snap elections. He also offered a solution: himself.
“Our democracy will not survive if we leave it to corrupt officials, conspirators and extremists,” he said in a televised speech. “Your trust obliges me to protect the state, the institutions and our future.”
Radev, a former air force commander, has waited years for this moment. Since a political crisis erupted in 2020, he has sat above the parliamentary mess, appointing caretaker governments when needed, and gradually amassing influence as the Balkan country’s ceremonial head of state.
Now, with polls showing him to be Bulgaria’s most popular politician, he is widely expected to form a new party and run in parliamentary elections this spring.
Radev has not announced his intention to run yet, but the timing appears to be in his favour.
Popular protests against corruption and a budget that proposed higher taxes ousted the last government in December, and voters are increasingly sick of a small elite of politicians who have dominated for years. These include former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who runs the leading GERB party, and oligarch Delyan Peevski, who is under U.S. and UK sanctions for corruption.
Still, he faces a massive challenge to turn around the fortunes of one of the European Union’s poorest and most corrupt members, where prosecutors allege that hundreds of millions of euros in European funds have been diverted into the pockets of businessmen and officials, public tenders have been fixed, and people have become so disillusioned that most don’t bother to vote.
Turnout dropped from nearly 50% in April 2021 to below 35% in a snap election in June 2024.
The challenge extends to Radev’s own personal image. He will face questions about his pro-Kremlin stance on the war in Ukraine, his scepticism on the euro, and even an allegedly damaging energy deal signed by a government he appointed.
“Radev offers the possibility of change to Bulgarian society, but also predictability – this is a perfect recipe,” said Parvan Simeonov, the founder of Myara, a Bulgarian polling agency. “However, there are issues and questions that should be answered.”
QUESTIONS FOR RADEV TO ANSWER
Radev was voted in as president in 2016 after a military career and training in the United States. In his first term, he became a critic of then Prime Minister Borissov, who was under pressure from corruption allegations.
When police raided Radev’s offices in 2020, Bulgarians saw the move as a hit job and it triggered the largest demonstrations since Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007. Months-long protests called for an end to graft, more accountability, and for the government to step down. Radev, meanwhile, was reelected for a second term in 2021.
The protests saw an end to Borissov’s tenure, but what followed was a political crisis in which weak coalitions struggled to last just a few months. The elections this spring will be the eighth in four years.
Graft continues: last year alone, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office said it opened 97 investigations in Bulgaria with damages totalling nearly 500 million euros.
Critics say Radev is partly to blame for questionable dealings done by interim governments that he appointed. This includes a 2023 gas deal between Turkish state gas company Botas and Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz that led to losses and an investigation.
COALITION PARTNERS NEEDED
Radev is popular but not enough to win an outright majority, analysts said.
Many point to a possible marriage with the reformist PP-DB party which has also been outspoken against corruption. Still, the party does not agree with Radev’s soft stance towards Russia, or on his reluctance to join the eurozone, which Bulgaria did on January 1.
Radev will also have to clarify his stance on Ukraine after a series of Kremlin-friendly statements in recent years. He clashed with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a meeting in 2023 when he said that military aid to Kyiv would only prolong the conflict.
“God forbid such a tragedy happens (here) and you are in my place,” Zelenskiy said on live TV. “Are you going to say “Putin, take over Bulgarian territories?””
(Writing by Edward McAllisterEditing by Alexandra Hudson)
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