Move by Boiko Borisov comes after official results show win for pro-Moscow candidate Rumen Radev in runoff

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Bulgaria’s prime minister has handed in his resignation to parliament after results showed his party losing badly in the presidential runoff, opening the way for an early parliamentary election.

Boiko Borisov’s move comes after official results show the Socialist-backed candidate Rumen Radev, who campaigned on an anti-migrant, pro-Moscow message, winning the presidential election.

“We accept the will of the people and we congratulate those who have the support of the majority of the voters,” said Borisov, whose party had previously triumphed in national elections over the ast decade.

Halfway into its four-year term, Borisov’s coalition government has restored political stability after months of anti-corruption protests. But its popularity has faded because of the slow pace of reforms to eliminate graft and poverty, and overhaul the judicial system.

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Radev called the result “a negative vote for the government that leads to a new political situation”.

The central election commission said that with 99.3% of the ballots counted, Radev won 59.4% of the vote, compared with 36.2% for the candidate of the ruling centre-right party, Tsetska Tsacheva.

Radev, who will take office for a five-year term on 22 January, will face a possible rise in the number of migrants from neighbouring Turkey and growing tensions between Russia and the west.

Radev, a political novice, attracted many Bulgarians who are fed up with corrupt politicians. The former Nato fighter pilot, who studied at the US Air War College in Alabama, has pledged to maintain Bulgaria’s place in Nato but also says “being pro-European doesn’t mean being anti-Russian”.

“During his election campaign, the US president-elect said categorically that he is going to have a deeper dialogue with Russia,” Radev said after the vote. He added that “it gives strong hope for a peaceful solution of the conflicts in Syria and in Ukraine, and reducing confrontation”.

In nearby Moldova, a pro-Russia candidate declared victory in the country’s presidential election, also on Sunday. Igor Dodon has pledged to restore trade and political relations with Moscow, which cooled after Moldova signed a trade association agreement with the European Union.

Dimitar Bechev, a political analyst, said: “There will be no shortage of drama in Bulgaria over the coming months, to be sure, but it will be driven by local forces, not the geopolitical contest between Russia and the west.”