The Financial times has reported in some detail on the recent European election results and highlights the fact that Boiko Borissov, the mayor of Sofia and founder of the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (known by its Bulgarian abbreviation as GERB), is expected to win July's general election after his party topped the June 7 elections to the European Parliament with 24.5 per cent of the vote. 

The paper paints Borissov as a cigar-smoking populist keen to accentuate his humble background and image as a self-made man, a person who shows visiting journalists the building "with sagging roof tiles" where he grew up.

"Borissov, a controversial figure who raises eyebrows in Brussels, has emerged as frontrunner to be the next prime minister. Yet his pledges to rid Bulgaria of corruption have met with scepticism among European diplomats," notes the FT.

The paper says that Borissov is keen to restore Bulgaria's image in the eyes of the outside world, in particular to tackle reforms in the judiciary. "One of the first pieces of legislation a GERB-led government would present to parliament would make evidence collected by Olaf, the EU’s anti-fraud office, admissible in Bulgarian courts, a move that would quickly increase the number of convictions for abuse of EU funds," notes the FT, quoting Borissov's intentions. 

The paper also quotes Borissov as saying that he is a great admirer of Olaf, having worked with them in the past against the smuggling of cigarettes and liquor.

The FT describes him as a popular personality with street credibility who has become a familiar face around the city's nightspots.

"Borissov, who has hired a World Bank economist to help craft his economic policy, stands out from the crowd in Bulgarian centre-right politics, which includes a clutch of small parties grouped round former cabinet ministers and wealthy business people. As mayor he enjoys the kind of adulation usually reserved for Bulgarian footballers playing in Europe’s premier leagues. He is seen in Sofia nightspots with the widow of a prominent Bulgarian banker assassinated by an organised crime group."

The paper goes on to describe what it calls his "meteoric rise" under former prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg when he won a place at the Interior Ministry.

"If GERB wins the July 5 elections it will still have to form a coalition with at least two other centre-right parties in order to govern, with negotiations likely to take several weeks, before the new coalition starts the task of rebuilding relationships with the European Commission," concludes the paper.