Barely two months of existence, and already a victory for “Let us continue the movement”, an anti-corruption formation which has just overtaken the GERB, the conservative party of the former minister Boïko Borissov.
This is the third time that Bulgaria has voted this year for the legislative elections. In April, Boïko Borissov – then Prime Minister – had been rejected by the voters after ten years in power and the exasperation of the population in front of the carelessness of the State and massive corruption, almost institutionalized. Corruption made even more unbearable by the management of the pandemic, with hospitals on the verge of collapse. But after this first electoral shock, it was impossible to build a coalition as the opposition was divided. In July, return to the polls, and rebel. This time, the third attempt won by this atypical formation.
Its leader is called Kiril Petkov, and it is therefore he who should be charged by President Roumen Radev with forming the government. The 41-year-old fake Travolta tunes, this Harvard alumnus spent his youth in Canada. A profile of a pragmatic and entrepreneurial businessman that he put forward during his time in the interim government set up in April … A few months as Minister of the Economy during which he did not has continued to shoot red balls at the many corruption scandals that plague the country.
At his side, his double, Assen Vassilev. The former finance minister, known in Harvard’s time and also in business, who swears to stop corruption in order to better redistribute public money to taxpayers.
The speech hits the mark. The method is less certain as the two men are new to politics. A first test for them: the formation of a new government, where their predecessors failed. Left, right, center, it doesn’t matter as long as there is no corruption, they say, asserting themselves open to dialogue. And an emergency: the health crisis in this country where less than a quarter of the almost 7 million inhabitants are vaccinated and where 200 people die every day from the consequences of Covid.