Bulgarian president Rumen Radev won a second term in office by a wide margin on Sunday as voters in the European Union’s poorest country backed his strong anti-corruption message, exit polls showed, Reuters wrote on Monday.
The 58-year-old now seems set for a second five-year term in the largely ceremonial post and will be formally reappointed in January.
Some 3 per cent of the voters have voted against both candidates.
Radev, a vocal critic of Borissov and firm supporter of last year’s anti-corruption protests, has attracted many Bulgarians who are fed up with politicians they see as corrupt.
Radev has appointed two consecutive caretaker governments that unveiled alleged corruption cases in Bulgaria’s industrial and financial sectors.
“Let’s not give the past a chance to torpedo our future. Let everyone find 15 minutes today [to vote] so that we do not waste the next five years,” Radev said after casting his ballot on Sunday.
The election comes amid widespread discontent against high-level graft that ended the decade-long rule of former premier Boyko Borissov in April and led a new anti-corruption party to victory in last week’s parliamentary elections. / argumentum.al
