Crisis-hit Bulgaria votes in eighth election in five years

Sofia: Bulgaria on Sunday, April 19, 2026, held its eighth legislative election in five years, with ex-president Rumen Radev's grouping tipped to win on a pledge to fight corruption, after an anti-graft movement triggered a long political crisis.

The European Union's poorest member has been through successive governments since 2021, when anti-graft rallies ended the conservative administration of long-time leader Boyko Borissov.

Radev, who has called for renewing ties with Russia and opposes military aid to Ukraine, was president for nine years in the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people.

He stepped down in January and now leads the new centre-left Progressive Bulgaria group of parties. Opinion polls before the election suggested his coalition could gain 35 percent of votes for the 240 seat parliament.

The former air force general, 62, has said he wants to rid the country of its "oligarchic governance model". He backed new anti-corruption protests last year that brought down the latest conservative-backed government.

"I'm voting for change," Decho Kostadinov, 57, told AFP after casting his ballot in the capital, Sofia, adding corrupt politicians "should leave -- they should take whatever they've stolen and get out of Bulgaria".

Several voters queued at the polling station even before it opened at 7:00 am (0400 GMT). Voting ends at 1700 GMT, with exit polls expected immediately afterwards. Final results are expected on Monday at the earliest.

'Practical relations with Russia' 

Borissov's pro-European GERB party is likely to come second, according to opinion polls, with around 20 percent, ahead of the liberal PP-DB.

"I'm voting to preserve what we have. We are a democratic country, we live well," said Elena, an accountant, who did not give her full name, after casting her vote.

After voting in Sofia, front-runner Radev said Bulgaria has "a historic chance to break once and for all with the... oligarchic model". He called for a "democratic, modern, European Bulgaria".

He also said he hoped for "practical relations with Russia, based on mutual respect and equal treatment".

Radev has denounced a 10-year defence agreement signed last month between Bulgaria and Ukraine, which has been fighting Russia's full-scale invasion since 2022.

He has also opposed Bulgaria sending arms to Ukraine, though he has said he would not use his country's veto to block EU decisions.

Borissov, who headed the country virtually uninterrupted for close to a decade, has dismissed suggestions that Radev brings something "new".

At a rally of his party earlier this week, Borissov insisted GERB had "fulfilled the dreams of the 1990s" with such achievements as the country joining the eurozone this year.

'No one to vote for'

A lack of trust in politics has affected voter turnout, which slumped to 39 percent in the last election in 2024.

But with Radev rallying voters, high turnout is expected this time, according to analyst Boryana Dimitrova from the Alpha Research polling institute.

Miglena Boyadjieva, a taxi driver, said she always votes, but the "problem is that there is no one to vote for".

"You vote for one person and get others. The system has to change," she told AFP.

Political parties have called on Bulgarians to show up for the polls, also to curb the impact of vote buying.

In recent weeks, police have seized more than one million euros in raids against vote buying in stepped-up operations.

They have also detained hundreds of people, including local councillors and mayors.