THE COALITION of former president Rumen Radev has emerged as the clear winner of Bulgaria’s parliamentary election, the country’s central electoral commission said today.

With 96 per cent of the ballots counted by this morning, results showed the Progressive Bulgaria coalition receiving 44.7 per cent of the vote — over 20 percentage points ahead of the right-wing Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party and the centrist neoliberal bloc led by the We Continue the Change party.

Mr Radev described his party’s victory as “unequivocal,” a “victory of hope over distrust, a victory of freedom over fear,” saying Bulgaria would “make every effort to continue on its European path.”

“But believe me, a strong Bulgaria and a strong Europe need critical thinking and pragmatism. Europe has fallen victim to its own ambition to be a moral leader in a world without rules,” Mr Radev told reporters.

Mr Radev resigned from the mostly ceremonial presidency in January, a few months before the end of his second term, to launch a bid to lead the government in the more powerful role as prime minister.

Bulgaria’s previous conservative government collapsed in December after nationwide anti-corruption protests drew hundreds of thousands of mainly young people to the streets.

Mr Radev’s popularity surged as he cast himself as an opponent of the entrenched mafia and their ties to high-ranking politicians. At campaign rallies, he vowed to “remove the corrupt, oligarchic model of governance from political power.”