Bulgaria’s Election: Borisov is Back

BULGARIANS are among the most miserable people in the world, according to the UN’s World Happiness report. In the 2013 survey, which looked at GDP, perceptions of corruption, health and other factors, Bulgaria ranked 144th out of 156—below Afghanistan, Iraq and Zimbabwe.Sadly, the result of a snap general election on October 5th will do little to lift the gloom. It is likely to bring back to power Boyko Borisov, a former wrestler, bodyguard and police chief with a burly physique, who resigned in February 2013 amid protests about poverty. Mr Borisov’s centre-right GERB party won 33% of the vote, far ahead of the Socialists and the Turkish minority party, DPS, which each took 15%. Yet GERB did not get an outright majority, so it will have to team up with one or two of the other seven parties in parliament to form a coalition. They offer an unappealing choice, ranging from an ultranationalist party, Ataka, and the Patriotic Front, a slightly less nationalist one, to Bulgaria without Censorship, a new populist party.The result is likely to be another unstable, divided government, the fifth in 18 months. The Socialists’ leader, Mihail Mikov, has already said his party will not join. The Reformist Bloc, a party on the right that took 9% of the vote and is GERB’s preferred partner, refuses to support a government led by Mr Borisov. Snubbed by these two large parties, GERB is now…

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