Brussels fears Rumen Radev, favourite to become Bulgaria’s next prime minister, could be its next Viktor Orban

By James Crisp

James Crisp is The Telegraph’s Europe Editor. He has covered the EU and Europe for The Telegraph since 2017. He was Brussels correspondent during the Brexit negotiations and lived in the Belgian capital for more than a decade, reporting on the EU.  

Published 18 April 2026 4:01pm BST

A pro-Russian ex-fighter pilot is the favourite to win elections in Bulgaria, prompting fears of a new Viktor Orbán who could undermine European unity over Ukraine.

Rumen Radev is expected to secure the most votes in Bulgaria’s eighth election in five years on Sunday, although he will probably need to rely on coalition partners to form a government.

Mr Radev has pledged to end the widespread corruption that brought thousands of young people to the streets in December and toppled the conservative pro-EU government.

He promised to root out the mafia, kick out the oligarchs and defeat “the local feudal lords and strongmen who are suffocating entire regions”.

The 62-year-old Left-winger quit as Bulgaria’s president in his second term to become prime minister and try to end the political instability that began in 2021.

A pro-Russian ex-fighter pilot is the favourite to win elections in Bulgaria, prompting fears of a new Viktor Orbán who could undermine European unity over Ukraine.

Rumen Radev is expected to secure the most votes in Bulgaria’s eighth election in five years on Sunday, although he will probably need to rely on coalition partners to form a government.

Mr Radev has pledged to end the widespread corruption that brought thousands of young people to the streets in December and toppled the conservative pro-EU government.

He promised to root out the mafia, kick out the oligarchs and defeat “the local feudal lords and strongmen who are suffocating entire regions”.

The 62-year-old Left-winger quit as Bulgaria’s president in his second term to become prime minister and try to end the political instability that began in 2021.

GERB is run by Boyko Borissov, a three-time former prime minister who resigned in 2021 after massive anti-graft demonstrations. Since then, no government has survived longer than a year.

Mr Radev’s eurosceptic and pro-Russian views have earned him comparisons to Mr Orbán, the hard-Right prime minister of fellow EU and Nato member Hungary who was ousted this week.

If elected, Mr Radev could use Bulgaria’s veto to delay aid to Kyiv or block EU sanctions on the Kremlin, much as Mr Orbán did.

Mr Radev said: “We are the only member state of the EU that is both Slavic and Eastern Orthodox. We can be a ‌very important link in this whole mechanism … to restore relations with Russia.”

Mr Orbán’s landslide defeat at the hands of Peter Magyar, the pro-EU conservative, was greeted with relief by European leaders who were frustrated with his years of vetoing Ukraine-friendly policies.

But Mr Radev has repeatedly opposed military aid to Kyiv and called for peace talks with Russia. He opposed Bulgaria joining the euro in January and signing a security agreement with Ukraine.

With a population of 6.5 million, Bulgaria is smaller than Hungary, and Mr Radev does not yet have the stature of Mr Orbán, who is the EU’s longest-serving leader after 16 years in power, which will end in May.

The necessity of coalition-building could also tame Mr Radev’s Eurosceptic and pro-Kremlin leanings and make it more unlikely that he would defy Western EU allies over Ukraine.

He has ruled out an alliance with GERB or the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party whose leader Delyan Peevski ⁠is under US and UK sanctions for corruption.

One coalition candidate is the pro-European We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition, which has around 12 per cent and agrees that reform is needed.

Bulgaria is ranked 84th in Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, on a par with Hungary as the lowest-scoring country in the EU.

Last month, Bulgaria asked for the EU’s help in countering Russian disinformation on social media and propaganda websites aimed at influencing the election.

“No ‌one from outside can come and tell us who and what to vote for. That is decided here, by us Bulgarians,” Mr Radev said, dismissing the request as a ruse to rig the vote.

However, Evelina Slavkova, from research centre Trend, said he was unlikely to make a serious effort to reorient Bulgaria toward Russia and had avoided giving definitive answers on the issue during the campaign.

Referring to EU and Nato membership, she said: “Our country has succeeded, despite all the obstacles, despite disagreements among some politicians, in building a very important set of tools that keeps Bulgaria on the right track.”

Older, rural voters are flocking to Mr Radev. “I see a leader who can make this drastic change and provide security for people,” said Nikolay Vasiliev, a farmer in the Haskovo province of Bulgaria.

He dismissed talk that Mr Radev was pro-Russian and said he wanted a decent and honest prime minister.

“The first word that comes to mind when I think of a leader is ‘dignified’,” Mr Vasiliev said. “To be a dignified leader, you must be a dignified person.”