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    Bulgaria votes as pro-Russian former president leads the polls
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    Bulgaria votes as pro-Russian former president leads the polls

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    38 Comments

    1. Upstairs-Mall-3695 on

      Another election in Bulgaria, and the pro russian former president Rumen Radev is leading the polls again. This could mean even more gridlock and closer ties with Moscow, Bulgaria really can’t catch a break.

    3. opal_lanterns on

      Feels exhausting, honestly, like being stuck on repeat. One small thing that might help is following some independent Bulgarian outlets or analysts to get nuance beyond “pro/anti Russia” headlines.

    4. tvtowers on

      Running frantically down the dock yelling “Wait for me” before the Titanic sets sail

    5. IvanStarokapustin on

      Bulgaria has kicked itself in the balls so many times, they don’t feel it anymore. So they are going for a sledgehammer.

    6. RustCohle_23 on

      Remember those cool photos of the protests?
      Yep, you’ll be seeing them again soon if this moron turns east.

    7. DavidShaw90s on

      “Bulgarians went to the polls on Sunday in the eighth parliamentary election in five years…”

      Eight parliamentary elections in five years is not a functioning democracy. That is an absolute institutional collapse.

      People reading the headline might be confused as to why an EU and NATO country is about to elect a pro-Russian populist, but the article lays it out perfectly. Bulgarians are not voting for Radev because they suddenly love Putin. They are voting for him because the pro-Western establishment is so comically corrupt that one of the runner up political leaders (Delyan Peevski) is literally sanctioned by the US and the UK for rampant graft.

      When your only choices are a pro-Russian populist or a guy officially blacklisted for stealing state funds, the voters are just going to pick whoever promises stability.

      But the most ironic part of this whole thing is Radev campaigning as the “anti-corruption” candidate. As the article points out, his own handpicked interim government signed that disastrous 2023 Botas gas deal that bled the country dry. He is just another grifter wearing a different colored tie.

      With Orbán finally getting ousted in Hungary, Putin is absolutely desperate for a new Trojan Horse inside the EU and NATO. It looks like he is going to exploit Bulgaria’s political exhaustion to get exactly that.

    9. Julian81295 on

      Just looked at Wikipedia. It seems as if today is the 18th national parliamentary election in Bulgaria since the fall of communism back in 1989.

      Which is crazy because the people in Bulgaria now almost had as many free elections as my home country, the Federal Republic of Germany (we had 21 federal elections since 1949).

    10. Any-Original-6113 on

      I think he’ll have a tough time carrying out his agenda, since the opposition he faces will be both strong and large in numbers.

    17. ZenX22 on

      Speaking as someone with no knowledge of Bulgarian politics, could he be as obstructive for the EU as Orban was?

    18. HovercraftPlen6576 on

      I really hate those “prediction” and “statistics” news. They alter the public’s perception very early on, in a way it’s an advertising for whom is best to vote, because anyone else allegedly does.

      It’s sad to see my country going again on the wrong path. I don’t want my country to be known for the next Orban in power.

    20. Financial_Loan1337 on

      Yeah but difference between Bulgaria and Romania is that bulgarians would never exit the EU while romanians might do so in the following years…

    22. KIL-0241 on

      As a Bulgarian myself the biggest issue is that there are still idiots who profited from the pockets of corrupt Russians put into high positions. And now that the Bulgarians need to earn their own money they always say stupid things like “It was so much better in the old days” – yeah because you stole and had a high paying position without the qualification.

      The youth is making a change and they see the right way, we just need to wait for the ex communist idiots to all die and Bulgaria will become a truly western country.

    23. DocGreenthumb77 on

      Whenever the European establishment media accuses a politician of being “pro Russian”, that politician is usually someone who is just trying to act in the national interest of their own country. The EU doesn’t seem to like that.

    25. WhatSheDrinks on

      Waiting for media to label Bulgaria as “the most corrupted EU country” while a few days ago it was Hungary. 🙂

    29. ricardoflic01 on

      This is what we deserve, after EU has been completely fine working with Borisov and Peevski for so long and never bothering to take any action on the election interference and all the illegitimate votes that are cast for them. EU logic is simple – as long as Bulgaria is not run by pro-Russian, everything is fine, even though corruption has been draining the blood of this country for so long. Radev is not picked out of fear or love, but out of despair, with no other option available.

    35. Kaiser93 on

      To quote Dewey from Malcolm in the Middle:

      “I expect nothing and I’m still let down”.