News / EU

Radev wins Bulgaria election, exit polls show

Sunday, 13 November 2016 6:33 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 13 November 2016 7:13 PM ]

Bulgaria's Rumen Radev, the candidate of the opposition Socialists, casts his vote at a polling station during the first round of presidential election in Sofia on November 6, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Following termination of the crucial round of Bulgaria's presidential election, Rumen Radev has come out victorious, exit polls by Alpha Research and Gallup International show.

The 53-year-old former Bulgarian air force commander, who is backed by the opposition Socialists, won 58.1-58.5 percent of the votes on Sunday.

A former NATO fighter pilot, Radev has pledged to maintain Bulgaria’s membership in NATO but has also said that “being pro-European does not mean being anti-Russian.”

The other contender in the election, Tsetska Tsacheva, 58, won 35.3-35.7 percent of the votes. Tsacheva was the candidate of the ruling center-right GERB party.

Bulgarian presidential candidate for GERB party, Tsetska Tsacheva, casts her vote during the crucial round of the polls in Pleven on November 13, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

In the first round of the election on November 6, pollsters were surprised by Radev's stunning win of only over 25 percent of the votes compared with Tsacheva's nearly 22 percent.

With Radev's victory, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov will probably tender his resignation.

Before the prime minister was re-elected, Bulgaria witnessed mass protests.

Graft and poverty remain rife in the country despite reforms promised by the center-right government. Public anger has also grown due to the fact that thousands of refugees are currently stranded in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria joined the European Union a decade ago. It is the most impoverished member of the 28-nation bloc.

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