The defeat of the left and the pro-Russians in the elections in Bulgaria and Finland

@ElentirENG EN 4·03·2023 · 7:10 0

Yesterday there were parliamentary elections in two European countries, Bulgaria and Finland, and both with an adverse result for the left.

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The results of the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria

The official results of the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria can be found here. At the time of writing these lines, the official count was for 71.64% of the votes, but everything indicates that the centrist PP-DB coalition (formed by the We Continue The Change party and Democratic Bulgaria, successor to Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria) would be the winner, closely followed by the centre-right GERB-SDS coalition (consisting of Citizens for European Development Bulgaria, GERB, and by the Union of Democratic Forces, SDS, both partners of the European People's Party). These two coalitions are made up of the most anti-Russian parties in Bulgaria.

The Vazrazhdane (Renaissance) party would come third (it is a pro-Russian right-wing party, anti-NATO and anti-EU, which aspires to annex Macedonia). The fourth party would be the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), from the center-left (it is attached to the Renew Europe group) and which represents the Turkish minority. The big loser today was the left-wing Coalition for Bulgaria (BSP), headed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the heir of the single party of the Bulgarian communist dictatorship, which is in fifth position. As it happens, the BSP, associated with the Party of European Socialists, is the most pro-Russian of the Bulgarian parties with a presence in the European Parliament.

The results of the parliamentary elections in Finland

The official results of the parliamentary elections in Finland can be found here. In this case the winner, by a narrow margin, was Petteri Orpo's National Coalition Party (NCP) , with 20.8% of the vote. Just seven tenths behind, the second was the conservative Perussuomalaiset (Party of the Finns), a party linked to the Identity and Democracy group but that has had many differences with its partners over the pro-Russian positions of Le Pen's and Salvini's parties, since Perussuomalaiset is the second most anti-Russian party in Finland, apart from has shown support for Ukraine and the integration of Finland into NATO).

The biggest loser, but by a narrow margin, was the Social Democratic Party of Finland, led by the current Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, who obtained 19.9% of the vote. These three parties with the most votes in Finland are in favor of Ukraine and the country's integration into NATO. It remains to be seen how the post-electoral alliances will be, since none of these three parties has enough support to govern alone.

Has the pro-Russian far-left weighed down the social democrats?

There are other left-wing parties that have achieved great failure, such as the environmentalists of the Green League (which obtains 7% of the vote and loses 7 of its 20 seats in the Finnish Parliament) and especially the ultra-left Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) (which obtained 7.1%, going from 16 to 5 seats). As in the case of Bulgaria, this is also bad news for the Kremlin, since Vasemmistoliitto was the most pro-Russian party in Finland.

In fact, it is worth wondering if his alliance with Vasemmistoliitto has harmed the Social Democrats of Sanna Marin, since they were part of the government coalition alongside them, the Green League, the Center Party (which has lost 8 of its 31 seats) and the Finnish Swedish People's Party (which retains its 9 seats). After the threats made by Putin against Finland the day after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, it was not very inspiring to have a pro-Russian party in the Finnish government, a party that also showed little enthusiasm for the integration of the country into the Atlantic Alliance (before that invasion, Vasemmistoliitto was openly hostile to NATO).

Two positive events in the elections of both countries

The conclusion of yesterday's election day in Bulgaria and Finland could be the same: defeat for the left and pro-Russian parties, and a setback for Putin's plans to destabilize Western countries by through its political terminals. Now it remains to be seen what government pacts will be made in both countries, as there is no winner by absolute majority. In any case, the defeat of the left is a positive development, as is the defeat of the Kremlin's political puppets in both countries.

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Images: vecteezy.com / agroservis-proizvodnja.eu.