The day in 3 news: GERB lands first place; Vazrazhdane gets major boost; WCC's failure triggers internal dissent
GERB wins election
GERB came first in the April 2 election, edging out the coalition DB-WCC by slightly less than 2%. Although not all ballots have yet been counted, GERB has won 26.54% of the votes, while DB-WCC has won 24.61%.
The coalition of WCC and DB failed to dethrone Boyko Borissov's GERB in what was the fifth parliamentary election in the last two years.
Pro-Kremlin Vazrazhdane came third, receiving almost 15% of the vote, to emerge as the biggest net gainer since the last election in 2022.
DPS and BSP won 13.55% and 8.96% respectively of the votes. Slavi Trifonov's TSP also passed the 4% threshold and will join the other 5 formations in the newly formed parliament.
Overall, DB-WCC succeeded in capturing the most votes only in the biggest cities, Sofia and Plovdiv, while GERB won in Varna.
Vazrazhdane could be kingmaker, says analyst
Vazrazhdane is the big winner from this election by increasing its results in every part of the country, according to experts. Sociologist Parvan Simeonov, executive director of Gallup International, said that that the pro-Russian party had stolen votes from almost every other formation, profiting from its "anti-war" stance. Simeonov added that forming a cabinet could now hinge heavily on their cooperation.
Deyan Kyuranov, a political scientist from the Center for Liberal Strategies, indicated that the first party and the runners-up might have to swallow their differences. "It is clear that since TSP made their way in the parliament, a pro-Russian party is in third place and DB-WCC is not leading - the only reasonable solution from a statesman's standpoint, is a big coalition between GERB and DB-WCC".
WCC torn by recriminations
Nikolay Sabev, former Transport Minister in the cabinet of Kiril Petkov, called for the resignations of two of the most prominent leaders in WCC, Assen Vassilev and Daniel Lorer, after failing to beat GERB in the elections. Sabev was once among the most important figures in WCC but left soon after their cabinet collapsed.
Ivan Hristanov, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, who left WCC recently, also criticised the leadership. He stated that his resignation from the party 2 months ago came after he had refused to participate in a conspiracy to overthrow the leadership of WCC by its own party members.
