Bulgaria's Parliament Approves Radev as Prime Minister

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Bulgaria's parliament on Friday approved Rumen Radev as the country's new prime minister, voting 124-70 with 36 abstentions, in an effort to resolve years of political deadlock and address economic pressures in the European Union member state.

The 62-year-old former president, who resigned from the largely ceremonial post in January ahead of his second term's end, led his Progressive Bulgaria party to a landslide victory in the April 19 parliamentary election. The party secured 131 seats in the 240-seat legislature, marking the first outright majority for a single party since 1997 after eight elections in five years.

Radev, a former fighter pilot who earned a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Air War College in 2003 and later commanded the Bulgarian air force, rose to prominence amid widespread anti-corruption protests. Those demonstrations, drawing hundreds of thousands primarily young people, forced the collapse of the previous conservative-led government in December. Radev positioned himself against entrenched corruption and ties between organized crime and politicians, vowing at rallies to dismantle the oligarchic governance model.