Victory looks certain for EU-skeptic Radev in critical Bulgarian election: As it happened
Former Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has defeated former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov by 30 points in Bulgaria’s general election, according to preliminary exit polls.
According to the first tranche of official results, Radev's Progressive Bulgaria coalition has won 43.4% of the vote, followed by caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov’s PP-DB at 13.9% and Borissov's GERB-SDS at 12.8%. These results are closely in line with exit polls, with Alpha Research predicting that Radev would take 44.2%, and Borissov's party would come in second place at 13.4%.
The election is the country’s eighth in five years, and is another flashpoint in the battle between pro-EU and sovereignist political forces in Europe. Borissov’s party is aligned with Brussels’ foreign policy, and he reassured voters on Sunday that his party gives “full support to Ukraine.” Radev has vowed to balance relations between East and West, promising to build a “modern European Bulgaria,” while developing “practical relations with Russia based on mutual respect.”
Radev, who opposes EU aid to Ukraine, has vowed to break the stranglehold of the “oligarchic mafia” on Bulgaria.
Borissov is the country’s longest-serving prime minister, holding office between 2009 and 2021. Radev is a former fighter pilot who served as Bulgaria’s president between 2017 and 2026. The pair publicly clashed during their overlapping stint in power, with Radev backing the 2020 anti-corruption protests that led to Borissov’s downfall.
Just as it did in Hungary last weekend, and in France, Germany, Moldova, and Romania beforehand, the EU has activated its ‘Rapid Response System’ in Bulgaria. This suite of online censorship tools gives the European Commission the power to remove so-called “disinformation” from social media platforms during the election.
LIVE UPDATES HAVE ENDED
19 April 2026
20:51 GMTThe first official results are in, and with just over 7% of votes counted, they’re tracking perfectly with the parallel counts – except Borissov’s GERB-SDS has now been bumped down to third place.
Radev’s party is on course to win 43.4% of the vote, followed by caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov’s PP-DB at 13.9% and GERB-SDS at 12.8%. The third place finish is a stunning loss for a party that’s dominated Bulgarian politics since the fall of communism.
No surprises are expected, and Radev’s victory is assured. With that, RT’s live coverage of the Bulgarian election ends, and we’ll soon be looking at what the results mean for Bulgaria, Russia, and the EU.
- 20:44 GMT
Speaking of Vucic, the Serbian leader just congratulated Radev on his win, telling Bulgaria’s BTA news agency that he welcomes “the opportunity to strengthen stability and progress, as well as to improve cooperation between Serbia and Bulgaria.”
- 20:31 GMT
Is this what the 'European path' looks like? Austrian Social Democrat MEP Andreas Schieder calls Bulgaria a "failed state," adding that the victory of "Putin friend" Radev "not only promises a further deterioration of the political situation in the country and the living reality of the people in Bulgaria, but it is also a setback for Europe."
Bulgarien hat sich in den letzten fünf Jahren in Richtung eines ,failed States’ entwickelt. Auch Radew wird daran mit seinen inhaltsleeren Versprechen nichts ändern - falls es ihm gelingen sollte, eine Regierung zu bilden. Das heutige Ergebnis verspricht nicht nur ein weitere…
— Andreas Schieder (@SCHIEDER) April 19, 2026Schieder infamously led the European Parliament's election observation mission in Serbia in 2023, claiming to have discovered "phantom voters" and other irregularities in the vote. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic accused him of making “malicious” reports to destabilize the country.
- 20:06 GMT
All three parallel counts (conducted by Alpha Research, Trend, and Myara) now show Progressive Bulgaria winning an absolute majority, landing between 129 and 134 seats out of 240.
Should Radev bring in a coalition partner and reach 160 seats, he would have the constitutional majority necessary to rewrite the Bulgarian constitution and enact sweeping reforms.
- 19:43 GMT
Radev has declared that his party won because voters “rejected the arrogance of the old parties and did not succumb to lies and manipulation.” He said that he will keep Bulgaria “on its European path,” but will push for “critical thinking and pragmatism” within the EU.
“Ask [French President Emmanuel] Macron, the prime minister of Belgium and other leaders who said a month ago that dialog with Russia should return. If we want Europe to have strategic autonomy, Europe must think very seriously in this crisis about how it will guarantee its resources. Without energy resources, we cannot talk about competitiveness,” he told reporters.
- 19:37 GMT
Here’s how Western media outlets are covering Radev’s impending victory.
- 19:27 GMT
The Myara research institute is conducting a so-called ‘parallel count’, which shows Progressive Bulgaria winning a massive 44.4% of the vote, with GERB-SDS at a distant 11%. In this scenario, Radev would have his pick of coalition partners, needing only another 6% to secure a majority.
A ‘parallel count’ is conducted using official data, allowing media outlets to publish preliminary results before every vote is counted. It’s another peculiarity of Bulgarian elections, along with the ban on exit polls before the end of voting.
- 18:44 GMT
Borissov has congratulated Radev on his victory, in a backhanded Facebook post in which he declared his party above “coalitions and…unprincipled assemblies.”
“Winning the elections is one thing, governing is quite another,” he continued. “The elections decide who is first, but the negotiations will decide who will govern.”
- 18:39 GMT
The Bulgarian Interior Ministry has revealed that out of 631 reported cases of vote-buying, 318 were allegedly committed by members of Borissov’s GERB-SDS. 18 were allegedly committed by the right-wing ‘Revival’ party, and 16 by Progressive Bulgaria. Another 39 offenses were spread between smaller parties.
An investigation is ongoing, but at present, Borissov’s party is accused of more than half of all cases of vote-buying in the country.
- 18:06 GMT
Across multiple exit polls, the results are similar. Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria has won the election: the only question is by what margin.
- Gallup: 35.5% - 17.5%
- Market Links: 39.1% - 15.6%
- Myara: 38.7% - 14.7%
- Alpha Research: 37.5% - 16.2%
