Bulgarian government at stake in presidential poll

Bulgarians voted Sunday in a high-stakes presidential run-off that could see centre-right Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s government fall if his handpicked candidate fails to defeat a Socialist-backed general.
While casting his ballot, the tough-talking premier reiterated his vow to throw in the towel if his pro-EU protegee — parliamentary speaker Tsetska Tsacheva — loses to former air force chief Rumen Radev, seen as friendly to Moscow.
“We will not participate in any way in the government if we lose today,” Borisov said.
A political novice, the 53-year-old Radev stunned pollsters by sweeping just over 25 percent of the vote to Tsacheva’s nearly 22 percent in the first round of the election on November 6.
Polling stations opened at 0500 GMT and will close at 1800 GMT, with first projections expected shortly afterwards.
Radev remains the favourite as voters seek to punish the government over its perceived failure to tackle rampant corruption and poverty in the European Union’s poorest member state.
“I voted against Borisov because I don’t think that he’s honest and he hasn’t really done anything to improve our lives,” said 52-year-old Zora Kardachka, a dry cleaner.
Observers say the general’s victory might tilt ex-communist Bulgaria, which has long walked a tightrope between Moscow and Brussels, towards Russia’s orbit — a trend seen across eastern and central Europe amid rising euroscepticism.
Nearby Moldova also looked set to elect a pro-Russian president on Sunday.
Tsacheva, 58, has vowed to keep Bulgaria on a pro-European path and accused her rival of being a “red general”.
“Bulgaria doesn’t need international isolation, suspended European subsidies and a rejection of European solidarity,” she said Sunday.
But the straight-laced ex-lawyer has not inspired voters, in an embarrassing setback for the popular Borisov who became prime minister for the second time in 2014.
“Maybe I should have thought better when I staked the government’s fate on my choice… I was wrong and I will take full responsibility,” he said after the first round.
The Bulgarian president’s role is largely ceremonial but he or she — Tsacheva would be the first woman in the position — is nonetheless a respected figure and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
If Tsacheva loses, Borisov could announce his resignation on Sunday evening.
Fresh elections are likely to plunge Bulgaria into renewed turmoil.
Prior to Borisov’s re-election, the country went through a long period of upheaval involving mass protests and a string of polls.
Despite promised reforms, graft and poverty remain rife while public anger has also grown over thousands of migrants currently stranded in Bulgaria.
Borisov’s popularity has waned and opinion polls suggest that his GERB party would fail to win an outright majority in early elections.
The premier appears to have badly miscalculated in nominating Tsacheva, analysts say.
“His threat to step down has mobilised his opponents more than supporters,” Zhivko Georgiev of the Gallup Institute told AFP.
A win for Radev would also signal a change in direction from outgoing President Rosen Plevneliev, a strong critic of Moscow.
Radev, who trained in the United States, has repeatedly insisted that “being a member of the EU and NATO does not mean that Bulgaria must be an enemy of Russia”.
The two countries have deep historical and cultural ties, and Bulgaria is heavily reliant on Russian gas.
But Plevneliev warned that Moscow was trying to “destabilise Europe” by financing anti-EU ultra-nationalists including in Bulgaria.
“The (climate) is more dangerous now than during the Cold War,” he told Austrian newspaper Die Presse in an interview published on Sunday.
Plevneliev, due to step down on January 21, said the Balkans were a conflict tinderbox caught in a tug of war between Moscow and Brussels.
“Those who seek to destabilise Europe, have the best chances of doing so in the Balkans. It’s always been this way: this is where WWI was ignited.”