You're reading: RFE/RL: Bulgarians go to polls in battle of pro-Russia, pro-west parties

RFE/RL: Bulgarians go to polls in battle of pro-Russia, pro-west parties

Published March 26, 2017 at 9:37 am

The head of the centre-right GERB party and former prime minister Boyko Borisov speaks during a pre-election rally in the city of Plovdiv on March 24, 2017, ahead of the parliamentary election, the thirds in four years in the country. Bulgaria's upcoming parliamentary election, held on March 26, raises the prospect of the EU's poorest country tilting more towards Russia if the Socialists emerge as winners and can form a government. In November, Bulgarians elected Rumen Radev, an air force commander backed by the Socialists (BSP) and seen as sympathetic to Russia, as president.

Photo by AFP

Bulgarians are going to the polls on March 26, with the pro-Russia Socialists pitted against the pro-Western center-right party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Opinion polls show a tight race, with Borisov’s GERB party and the Socialist Party (BSP) both getting around 30 percent of the vote.