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News & Current Events Apr 19, 2026 at 5:15 PM

Russia-aligned Rumen Radev set to win Bulgarian election, exit polls say

Posted by green_flash

Russia-aligned Rumen Radev wins landslide in Bulgaria
POLITICO
Russia-aligned Rumen Radev wins landslide in Bulgaria
Radev crushed traditional parties that he accused of being key enablers of a mafia state.
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ianjm Apr 19, 2026 +251
You pull up one weed, another grows
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[deleted] Apr 19, 2026 -4
[removed]
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godisanelectricolive Apr 19, 2026 +16
This is Bulgaria’s 7th election in five years. They oscillated all across the political spectrum during that time. It’s not really about ideology at this point. It’s just about any kind of change to entrenched corruption. Unfortunately no “party of change” has so far proved to be uncorrupt.
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green_flash Apr 19, 2026 +6
It's the 8th parliamentary election in 5 years: 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2021_Bulgarian_parliamentary_election - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2021_Bulgarian_parliamentary_election - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Bulgarian_general_election - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Bulgarian_parliamentary_election - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Bulgarian_parliamentary_election - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2024_Bulgarian_parliamentary_election - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2024_Bulgarian_parliamentary_election - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Bulgarian_parliamentary_election
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[deleted] Apr 19, 2026 +14
[removed]
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lingeringneutrophil Apr 19, 2026 +242
Ugh another Russian rat we didn’t need
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green_flash Apr 19, 2026 +39
Projected election results (19:00 exit poll) - ~~“Progressive Bulgaria” – 39.2%~~ - ~~GERB–SDS – 15.1%~~ - ~~“We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria” – 13.3%~~ - ~~DPS – 8.1%~~ - ~~“Vazrazhdane” – 5.0%~~ - ~~“BSP – United Left” – 4.2% (above threshold)~~ From https://www.novinite.com/articles/238086/First+EXIT+POLL UPDATE: Looks like the exit poll was way off. He will have an absolute majority: The latest projection says: - "Progressive Bulgaria" – 45% - PP-DB – 12.6% - GERB-UDF – 12.3% - DPS – 6.8% - "Vazrazhdane" – 4.2% - "BSP - United Left" – 3.1% (below threshold) Source: https://bntnews.bg/news/obrat-pri-paralelnoto-prebroyavane-na-100-myara-pp-db-izprevarvat-gerb-sds-bsp-ostavat-pod-4-1389280news.html
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green_flash Apr 19, 2026 +27
The threshold for entering parliament is 4%, so “BSP – United Left” could still fall short. That would however still not be enough for Radev's party to gain an absolute majority of seats unless the exit poll is wildly inaccurate. He will need to form a coalition. EDIT: Looks like the exit poll was way off. He will have an absolute majority: https://www.novinite.com/articles/238090/BREAKING
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daniel_22sss Apr 19, 2026 +53
Ugh, we got rid of Orban just to have another russian puppet in EU. I hope EU will at least have enough time to send Ukraine those 90 billions.
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green_flash Apr 19, 2026 +21
Orbán's government is still in place as a caretaker. It will take a few more weeks until Magyar takes over from him. Government formation in Bulgaria is likely going to take longer than that. The question is how Slovakia's Fico and Czechia's Babis will act in the meantime. There's been some indication that they would agree to the loan. Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia are already exempt from contributing to the loan. However, it could be that Fico and Babis will stall the decision making so that Radev can withdraw Bulgaria as well.
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AlternativeScratch94 Apr 19, 2026 +10
I don't think any of them are going to block the loan because they want the EU money.
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licancaburk Apr 19, 2026 +4
We should start talking about kicking countries out of EU.
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Jia-the-Human Apr 19, 2026 +17
More than kicking out i think suspending would be more useful, you keep a carrot dangling for opposition to have stronger arguments, and allow for changes in refine for more EU friebdly leaders like in Hungary, just blocking them out of being able to block everyone else is fine
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LetterNo7829 Apr 19, 2026 +12
I just don’t understand why every decision needs to have 100% agreement. Surely 90% of the countries should be enough to push a decision through . 
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Marphey12 Apr 20, 2026 +3
Because no country would surrender their soverignity like that. It's double edged sword. Yes it allows even single country to block important resolutions however it also prevents major countries to stright up bully the minor ones.
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LetterNo7829 Apr 20, 2026 +1
What I meant to say is, if they wanted to protest it, the most they should be able to do, should be to opt out. Why the hell should they decide whether the rest of the EU countries are lending money to Ukraine?  The way I see it, the sovereignty of the many is being limited by the few. 
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gigandick Apr 20, 2026 +1
Nope, never. For a bunch of fuckwits you don't punish yourself.
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licancaburk Apr 21, 2026 +1
I meant "talking", not really kicking anyone out.
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tappex Apr 19, 2026 +16
And maybe enough time to establish a process to remove states from the EU if all member states (bar the one to be removed) vote in favor of it. This instrument would hopefully never need to be used, but would give the EU leverage when dealing with highly deviant members. Orban did what he did because he knew there was nothing the EU could do; maybe he would have been more cooperative if he knew a forced exit was in the realm of possibilities.
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AlternativeScratch94 Apr 19, 2026 +9
The reason they don't implement such a system is that they hope to achieve what they did in Hungary and win back the country instead of cutting it out entirely.
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tappex Apr 19, 2026 +3
I absolutely see your point. On the other hand, a full majority for forced exclusion is unlikely to ever be reached unless there is a real threat within -- with absolutely no other means left to mitigate that threat. At least that's how I picture it in my head, as a layman.
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turkeyburpin Apr 19, 2026 +9
Wouldn't it be cleaner to just not require 100% on votes? Make the threshold 85 or 90% and 1, 2 or 3 bad actors wouldn't be enough to blockade a course or action. Then you maintain hope of bringing countries back around to align with allied nations instead of acting as puppet states to non-aligned foreign actors in the future.
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Uhhh_what555476384 Apr 19, 2026 +9
Yes.  The EU has built a very strict veto-ocracy and poli-sci would predict eventual failure without governance reform. Just look at how the US system has started to fail as it has become a veto-ocracy over the last 50 to 70 years.
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TheDakestTimeline Apr 19, 2026 +6
The weird polish system of everyone gets a veto
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Uhhh_what555476384 Apr 19, 2026 +4
The Sejm. A lot of the US Constitution is directly written to avoid the failures of the Commenwealth. That's why the US only allows "natural born citizens" to be President. The only part of US law where natively born and naturalized citizens have different rights.
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Uhhh_what555476384 Apr 19, 2026 +2
The EU states in favor of further federalization need to start a parallel process they can do outside the EU that the EU can adopt.  One with better governance. The EU is structured like the Articles of Confederation which nearly caused the collapse of the early US Republic.  It really looks like without a major governance reform the EU will have to enter a decline.
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smot100 Apr 19, 2026 +2
His comment to AP (he spoke in English just now on the news) was more pro-european than I was expected. Talked about building a european security structure.
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Frexxia Apr 20, 2026 +3
> Talked about building a european security structure. I mean, most of the Russian population lives in the European part of Russia.
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TheWhiteManticore Apr 19, 2026 +1
Win some you lose some
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johansugarev Apr 19, 2026 +3
Looks like worst case scenario
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zdravkov321 Apr 19, 2026 +1
I like how you translated everything except възраждане!
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LightBringer81 Apr 19, 2026 +53
Bulgaria is the new Hungary?
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4862skrrt2684 Apr 19, 2026 +29
Hungary 2: electric putinloo 
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green_flash Apr 19, 2026 +14
Radev is more like Fico
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 19, 2026 +4
So, same thing.
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DynamoSnake Apr 19, 2026 +8
Bulgaria doesn't get much spotlight, but they have been in a pretty sorry state since pretty much, post iron curtain... EU has only marginally helped in the grand scheme of some things.
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Univeralise Apr 19, 2026 +49
I do wonder what the EU would be like if they were more selective on the countries in 2004. As it feels that most of the friction which comes from countries that had joined circa 2004 (Hungry, Slovakia, now Bulgaria).
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asdhjasdhlkjashdhgf Apr 19, 2026 +18
EU (despite i'd like to see a proper force against russian imperialism too) is not about russia, it is about Europe. Turns out this union is also a construct the other 3 foes (ru/xina,US) don't like, because it is the creme on top of the cake they fight about or rather want it disrupted for their own gain. And since Ukraine is under attack, all the fuzz is about sovereignty and unity, not about solely pro/contra ru as a membership requirement.
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Marphey12 Apr 20, 2026 +2
I mean in 2004 my country Czechia had only one prominent pro russian political party which were the Communists despite being in house of deputies they were permanetly stuck in opposition because noone want them in Government also Russia wasn't as hostile to west as it is today since they were still recovering from fall of SU.
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wgszpieg Apr 20, 2026 +5
Also, back then russia was reeling from the collapse of the SU, and people thought it would clean up its act.
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Marphey12 Apr 20, 2026 +2
They were naive. Baltics knew that they have to rush NATO membership before the dust in russia setttles.
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Positive_Chip6198 Apr 19, 2026 +11
Russia is like hydra, only without being cool whatsoever
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Meaty32ID Apr 19, 2026 +26
We're not even sure how pro-Russian or pro-EU he is. He is a master of talking a lot, while saying nothing.
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green_flash Apr 19, 2026 +28
We do know that he's against military support for Ukraine and against sanctions for Russia.
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 19, 2026 +9
Have you not learned to follow their actions, not their words?
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Barrel123 Apr 19, 2026 +7
Its still muddying the waters
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daniel_22sss Apr 19, 2026 +6
If I recall correctly, he had a very angry interview with Zelenskyy.
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vossmanspal Apr 19, 2026 +29
Bulgaria clearly doesn’t need EU funds if Radev wins, he will be rolling in the puppet masters wallet though.
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RushingUnderwear Apr 19, 2026 +24
EU really need some mechanism to temp ban countries, and withholding all the funds they would receive, until these countries get back on a normal path again. We cant keep having Eastern european countries becoming russian puppets, or if they choose this path, it should be a temp ban for x amount of years, and they would have to go back through the process to rejoin again..
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DavidlikesPeace Apr 19, 2026 +12
Or they can just get rid of the stupid veto. No functional political systems survives long under these conditions. A political system needs to be able to react to threats or fix problems. You cannot do that thanks to the veto
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Seansz Apr 20, 2026 +1
You should be able to veto only things that affect your country directly, so that way you avoid being marginalised by others(things like waste dump, energy development, etc.). And EU money is not only your country's contribution, it affects all of us, so the majority should rule here, if you don't like it, you can always leave.
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BitchQueenHsgirl Apr 19, 2026 +19
It's funny, cause when Geert Wilders won the election in the Netherlands, no one complained that he, too, is a Russian puppet. Still, f*** Rumen Radev and his pro-Russian stance
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Uhhh_what555476384 Apr 19, 2026 +19
I believe they were more immediately worried about him being a Nazi.
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DexJedi Apr 19, 2026 +16
First off, anyone who was not worried about him was wrong. Many in the Netherlands were. Secondly, our system works totally different. Wilders did not have any majority to push through too crazy things. We have to make a government with often times 3 to 4 different parties. This helps a lot against potential autocratic leaders. (It has big weaknesses as well)
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ForgingIron Apr 19, 2026 +3
Wilders wasn't ever the PM
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BitchQueenHsgirl Apr 19, 2026 +4
Yes, who can forget D***?
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ForgingIron Apr 19, 2026 +4
D*** Schoof is such a fantastic name
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ArdDC Apr 19, 2026 +3
He didnt get much votes though, they were only the biggest by a couple of seats
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 19, 2026 +2
I complained to my MP.
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TheAmazing Apr 19, 2026 +5
That doesn't sound very democratic.... should Ursula just install her puppets and we can skip the whole election thing
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DavidlikesPeace Apr 19, 2026 +4
Vetoes are not democratic either. Majority votes should determine policy decisions, or even a qualified supermajority. Otherwise this is a dysfunctional tyranny of the minority (bought by America or Russia)
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Escape-artist-43 Apr 19, 2026 +1
This would be shot down immediately in the court
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pac258 Apr 20, 2026 +1
This comment here reveals why people become Eurosceptic. Why would someone win a majority then? Do you think you know better than 1.5 million Bulgarians? Let the people decide for themselves- they know whats a “normal path”.
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Golemiot_mufluz Apr 19, 2026 -5
So is democracy as long as you vote how eu wants?
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 19, 2026 +3
No, it's democracy until Russia intervenes. Bulgaria should've taken the lead from Romania.
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Golemiot_mufluz Apr 19, 2026
And why do you think russian intervened? Do you think bulgarians voted with ukraine in mind at al? Do you even know anything about bulgatisn politics? Like who radev is and who the other option - bojko borisov is
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 19, 2026 +3
It doesn't matter who he is because if he's aligned ideologically with Russia, then he is de facto bad for Bulgaria, bad for the EU, and bad for the World. It's not difficult to understand that Fascism is a bad thing.
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pac258 Apr 20, 2026
He is not pro Russian, you political philosopher. We are staying in the EU and NATO with him. Being against spending useless money on Ukraine instead of your nation is not pro Russian
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 20, 2026
Bulgaria is against 'spending' money? Your country is a net recipient of EU funds. You hardly pay anything in that isn't paid back many times over. So no, Bulgaria is not spending anything. He is definitely pro-Russian if he's planning on closer relations to them, which he is. It's a shame Russia isn't bombing Bulgaria rather than Ukraine or this whole business could have been avoided on the EU's part.
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Mumbert Apr 19, 2026 +9
Oh for FUCKS sake we just got rid of Orban.
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echoron Apr 19, 2026 +11
See, u get rid of one (Orban), another one appears... PPL will never learn...
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skibbin Apr 19, 2026 +6
Bulgaria is about to become Trumps favorite
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 19, 2026 +6
Do the Bulgarian people actually yearn for the days when they were under Russian control? Judging by the election results it would seem so. Do I have it wrong?
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Simple-Potato-8912 Apr 20, 2026 +5
They yearn for somebody who will actually make their lives better. The ones that have ruled the country in thr last 15 years or so have plundered virtually all the EU funds and have complete control of the courts and judicial system at the moment. We live in a country where thr whole system is broken, there is no justice. There is widespread corruption in the whole country. That’s why people have voted this way. The war in Ukraine and foreign policy comes second at the moment as we have to fix our own mess first.
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 20, 2026 +3
Do Bulgarians see that this vote might be their last if he follows the same path as other Putin proteges? Or does that kinda thing not matter to the average Bulgarian?
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DavidlikesPeace Apr 20, 2026 +2
The average person is very average. No. They don’t see anything that isn’t clearly in front of them.
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Simple-Potato-8912 Apr 20, 2026 +2
What do you mean by that this vote might be their last?
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 20, 2026 +1
Have a look around and see what happens when authoritarians gain power
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Simple-Potato-8912 Apr 21, 2026 +1
We’re not in the 1930s. Don’t worry about our democracy.
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 21, 2026 +1
You won't have one as soon as he starts reforming the Bulgarian judiciary. And with a super-majority, that will be item number one on the agenda.
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Simple-Potato-8912 Apr 22, 2026 +1
He doesn’t have supermajority to do it himself. He needs another political party to back him up as he needs 30 more seats to do so.
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Brief_Hospital_1766 Apr 22, 2026 +2
I read somewhere (that I thought was a legitimate news outlet) that he had either won a super majority, or forming the coalition to do so would be no problem. I hope you're right because just look at the damage done to Hungary when Orban won a super majority. We all just want to not be undermined from within as Orban and Fico have for years. It's understandable if Bulgarians don't want to contribute to the defence of Ukraine, **but Bulgaria is one of the largest net recipients of EU funds,** so it's not Bulgarian money going there anyway.
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Glimpse81 Apr 19, 2026 +4
As expected yet another puppet of Russia takes the official power in this small but so lost country. It is widely known that Radev is installed 7 years ago by Russia\`s Reshetnikov - back then in the for the presidential elections, Borison (GERB) didnt support his very successful and liked in the West president whose term was ending (Plevneliev) and instead as ordered by Moscow - he put a candidate who was bound to lose and so Radev\`s victory was secured. That was phase 1 of his installation. Now we are in phase 2 where the puppet masters (Russia/KGB) are reshuffling all their avatars in BG - essentially in the last 35 years all the big parties are serving the same masters. GERB played its part as well as DPS - but they are now depleted and as expected most of their votes pooled for Radev. Unfortunately for EU - they have to deal with another Hungary now.........
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WorldArcher1245 Apr 20, 2026 +1
Russia's compensation for Hungary
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Jonathanwennstroem Apr 19, 2026 +1
Really do wonder if headlines were like that 40/50/60 years ago or if that‘s a thing of the media these days
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BarakudaB Apr 19, 2026 +2
Are Bulgarians that f****** stupid?
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Simple-Potato-8912 Apr 20, 2026 +3
If you only knew what the other options were… all other parties have already been in power and it wasn’t any good to put it mildly.
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whodatt_91 Apr 19, 2026 -15
Russia aligned, lmao. You clowns know nothing.
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pac258 Apr 20, 2026 +1
Apparently everyone here is an expert on Bulgarian politics and knows better than 1.5 Bulgarians - typical Listnookors
1
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