In his remarks after voting on Sunday morning, Radev said the election was an opportunity to “take back” the country from oligarchs, but also called for relations of “mutual respect” with Moscow, based on Russia’s role in liberating Bulgaria from the Ottoman empire in 1878.
While these positions have helped him build up a base of support at home, he has avoided direct confrontation with the West and has generally fallen in step with the European mainstream when attending European Council meetings in Brussels.
European funds are vital to the EU’s poorest member country and Bulgarian leaders have traditionally avoided any provocative antics in Brussels in the style of outgoing Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán.
In the days before the election, the former MiG-29 pilot pushed back against the accusations that he was pro-Russian.
“I don’t see what kind of pro-Russian position I have. I have completely pro-Bulgarian positions, I have pro-European positions,” he said.
He refuses to go to into coalition with Bulgaria’s two most prominent politicians — former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Delyan Peevski, leader of the DPS-New Beginning party — accusing them of being at the top of the “oligarchic pyramid” running the mafia state.
While casting his vote on Sunday, Borissov hit back by trying to associate Radev with a corruption probe in his close entourage.
This article is being updated.
