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New party wins in Bulgarian Euro MP poll

A man prepares to cast his vote in a polling station in Sofia's suburb of Kremikovtzi during Bulgaria's first-ever elections for members of the European Parliament on Sunday. PHOTO: AFP

A newly formed opposition party received the most votes in Bulgaria's first election for the European Parliament, preliminary official results showed yesterday.

The center-right GERB party, led by popular Sofia Mayor Boiko Borisov, received 21.69 percent in Sunday's elections with all the vote counted, data from the central electoral commission showed.

The Socialists of Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev received 21.41 percent, and their coalition partner, the Turkish minority Movement for Rights and Freedoms, won 20.26 percent.

Officials said that after a second counting of the ballots the figures could change slightly.

"The results are very close, so we will validate them and will announce the final official results and seat distribution on Tuesday or early Wednesday," the commission announced.

Each of the three leading parties could receive five of Bulgaria's 18 seats in the European Parliament. They will serve until the 2009 EU-wide elections.

The official seat distribution is expected to be announced tomorrow, the commission said.

Two other parties are expected to have representatives in the European Parliament -- the ultranationalist Ataka party with 14.22 percent of the vote, and the third member of the ruling coalition, the NDSV party of former king Simeon Saxcoburggotski with 6.26 percent.

Voters appeared disillusioned with politics, which translated into a turnout of just 28.6 percent.

Analysts said that the opposition's victory was a warning that the Socialist government, which was caught in a graft scandal after the country joined the EU in January, needed to get serious about fighting crime and corruption.

"It is obvious that people want more radical action from the government," Gallup analyst Kancho Stoichev said. "It will now probably start to act more actively against corruption."

Stanishev called the voting results "unpleasant".

"It is clear that after the EU entry people expect more: They expect stronger economic growth, higher incomes," he said on Sunday evening.

"The Bulgarian citizens can be sure we are reading the signs they are giving to us and that we will really do a serious analysis and take actions," he said.

The vote came after Bulgaria and neighboring Romania joined the EU in January, following a last-minute rush to reform communist-era judiciary and state institutions.

Both countries are at risk of sanctions from the bloc, possibly soon after a June 27 progress report from Brussels, as fading momentum for reform is raising talk among some member states that the two were admitted too soon.

How the government and judiciary handle the graft scandal, involving the economy minister and the country's top investigator, is regarded as a litmus test of its willingness to root out abuse.

"The corruption scandal has not ended yet and the tendencies for negative attitude towards the government will continue, if it does not take fundamental measures," commentator Ivan Garelov wrote in Sofia's daily Novinar.

Ognyan Shentov, who heads the Sofia-based Center for the Study of Democracy, said the government remained strong but now needed to reshuffle the cabinet.

"But is should be done soon and be used effectively," he said.
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