Pro-Russian candidate wins election in Bulgaria

TT

Published 09.09

         

         Bulgarian ex-president Rumen Radev on Sunday evening. Photo: Valentina Petrova/AP/TT

Pro-Russian ex-president Rumen Radev wins the election in Bulgaria.

His party is leading by a large margin with 44.6 percent of the vote when 87 percent are counted, the country's election authority announced.

Former fighter pilot and general Rumen Radev's newly founded Progressive Bulgaria party has promised to fight corruption, poverty and the dominance of oligarchs ahead of the parliamentary elections.

Radev has also advocated a "pragmatic and mutually respectful" foreign policy towards Russia and has criticized some EU policies. He has also expressed admiration for Hungary's outgoing authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

The election was the eighth in Bulgaria in five years.

Radev resigned from the presidency in January of this year to run in the election.