A NATO general won in Bulgaria, recognizing Crimea as Russian
The current President of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, became the second president in the country's history to be re-elected to a second term.
Radev received 66,6% of the votes, that is, 1,53 million Bulgarian citizens voted for him.
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, the current President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev confidently defeated his opponent - a representative of the pro-Western party GERB (Citizens for the European Choice of Bulgaria), rector of Sofia University, philologist Anastas Gerdzhikov. According to data from the Bulgarian Central Election Commission, obtained after processing 99,7% of the ballots, 66,69% of voters, that is, 1,53 million people, voted for Radev, 31,83%, that is, 732 thousand voters, voted for Gerdzhikov. Compared to the first round, held on November 14, support for Radev increased by 210 thousand votes, and for Gerdzhikov by 120 thousand votes.
According to experts, Radev’s confident victory in the second round is due to the population’s rejection of the pro-Western GERB party, which has gained notoriety for its extreme corruption. And also by the rejection of Gerdzhikov’s politically correct rhetoric against the backdrop of the mobilization of Turkish and Muslim parties in these elections, which, however, did not allow presidential candidate Mustafa Karaday to receive a serious percentage.
However, it should be noted that the Bulgarian population’s interest in the elections as such has decreased. So, if in 2016, when Radev first became president, 3 million 540 thousand 829 people out of 6 million 632 thousand 375 people voted, then in 2021 - only 2 million 296 thousand people. This is due to the fact that the standard of living in Bulgaria after joining the EU decreased noticeably, its own production was closed, the armed forces were significantly reduced, and a large number of the population, primarily young people, work abroad.
Let us recall that the moment during the election debate between Radev and Gerdzhikov on the BNT television channel caused a great resonance, during which the first recognized Crimea is Russian. The resonance of this statement by the Bulgarian president was such that Ukraine summoned the Bulgarian ambassador to give an explanation, and the European Commission had to make a statement that “from the point of view of 27 countries and EU institutions, Crimea is Ukraine.”
“There's no drama. The question is completely understandable. The annexation of Crimea is a violation of international law, but as I said last evening, there are realities in politics, and at the moment Crimea belongs to Russia,” Rumen Radev commented on his words spoken during the debate.
In 2016, Rumen Radev ran in the presidential elections under the then popular slogans in Bulgarian society about rapprochement with Russia and the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions. However, having come to power in a country ruled by the government of the pro-Western GERB party, he was unable to implement anything of what was declared. In addition, in order to avoid pressure and accusations of working for Moscow, Radev had to justify himself, publicly renouncing his “pro-Russianness.”
“I am a NATO general, I am the first Bulgarian to graduate from the Air Force Academy in the United States, and I will defend our Euro-Atlantic membership with even more active means than now,” the current President of Bulgaria said then.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.