Rumen Radev, a former fighter pilot and air force chief whose left-leaning Progressive Bulgaria party has openly expressed sympathy toward Moscow, has won an absolute majority in Bulgaria's parliamentary elections, securing an estimated 131 of 240 seats with around 44.7% of the vote. The result ends years of political paralysis in one of the European Union's poorest and most politically unstable member states — Sunday's vote was the country's eighth parliamentary election since 2021.

Radev, 62, stepped down from Bulgaria's largely ceremonial presidency in January to run on a forceful anti-corruption platform, channelling widespread public anger at entrenched graft and the established parties seen as enabling it. His landslide put the long-dominant conservative GERB party of former prime minister Boyko Borissov at just 13.4%, its lowest ever tally, while the pro-European We Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria coalition scored 12.8%. Turnout exceeded 50%, notably higher than in recent elections. The Kremlin welcomed the result, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov expressing encouragement at Radev's stated desire to resolve issues through dialogue.

Radev has repeatedly called for improved relations with Russia and a resumption of Russian energy flows into Europe, opposed sending arms to Ukraine, and criticised a recent Bulgarian-Ukrainian defence agreement. He also sought — unsuccessfully — a referendum on Bulgaria's planned entry into the eurozone. Yet analysts caution against reading him as a straightforward Kremlin proxy: he has consistently denied alignment with Moscow, pledged not to veto EU decisions, and kept his foreign policy positions deliberately ambiguous. One of his close associates stressed last week that Bulgarians want continued active participation in NATO and the EU, not closer ties to Russia.

The result arrives days after Hungary's Viktor Orbán — long Brussels' most disruptive critic — lost power, and the coincidence has sharpened concern among EU diplomats about whether Radev could fill that role. Analysts note, however, that Bulgaria's historical posture within the EU has been broadly cooperative, and that Radev's majority falls short of the 160-seat supermajority needed for sweeping judicial reform. Experts warn that institutional capture of courts, regulators, and media means the arrival of a new government does not automatically mean genuine change. As one analyst put it, Radev's win is "an opportunity for capture to accelerate" under a leader who is himself "a product of the same environment he claims to dismantle."

For ordinary Bulgarians, reactions were mixed. Some welcomed the prospect of political stability after years of revolving-door governments and saw in Radev a genuine break from the corrupt status quo. Others expressed alarm at his closeness to Moscow. The coming weeks will reveal whether Radev governs with the pragmatic pro-European tone he has occasionally signalled, or whether Sofia begins to drift toward the bloc's Eurosceptic fringe at a critical moment for European cohesion.