Center-Right GERB Party Wins Snap Bulgaria Election
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Bulgaria's center-right GERB party won Sunday's general election with 32.6 percent of the vote against 15.27 percent for their main Socialist opponents, according to official results with 87 percent of votes counted.
The results closed matched those of exit polls released on Sunday evening. The election was called after the collapse of the Socialist-led administration in July.
Bulgaria has been in the hands of a caretaker government since August, following the collapse of the Socialist-led administration.
Over the last two years, the country has seen large-scale protests topple a previous GERB administration and nearly fell its successor, Reuters reported.
Top of the list of the new government's priorities is what to do with Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank), Bulgaria's fourth-biggest lender, which was closed after a run on deposits in June and whose fate has been in limbo ever since.
Furious customers at the bank have been unable to access their money for more than three months and the bank's main shareholder is charged with embezzlement.
Foreign direct investment has fallen by more than a fifth this year.
Seven years after the nation joined the EU with high hopes of prosperity, corruption remains endemic while one in five Bulgarians lives below the poverty line.
