On July 5, Bulgaria’s voters gave Boiko Borissov’s party GERB 116 of the 240 seats in Parliament, persuasive proof – if any was needed – for his political opponents that he is the most powerful politician in the country.

Whether it was for the open and aggressive way he speaks, his macho image or because of the more than 5000 media appearances he has had in the past eight years, the 39.7 per cent Borissov won at the elections made it clear that Bulgarians want him to take control of the country.

True to form, Borissov did not wait a minute to announce that he was ready to take the post of prime minister and to form a cabinet as soon as possible.

"People know who I am and what I have done in the past 10 years," Borissov said on election night. "They know the projects I have worked on, as mayor and before that at the Interior Ministry," he said, and he was right. Compared to previous prime ministers, Borissov is arguably the best-known figure, even up against former monarch Simeon Saxe-Coburg who won a landslide election victory in 2001 amid people’s great expectations for a positive change.

Unlike Saxe-Coburg, who appointed Borissov as chief secretary of Interior Ministry in 2001, Borissov will have not just the task of improving Bulgarians’ living standard but keeping their jobs and businesses open. This was why it was no surprise when the first name he announced as his future finance minister was that of Simeon Dyankov, a former chief economist with the World Bank.

Although analysts will continue arguing whether Borissov’s win was in fact a result of Bulgarians’ negative attitude towards the three ruling parties, Borissov worked hard to carve himself the image of a fighter against corruption and crime, the two things Bulgarians want dealt with once and for all.

Serving this image, Borissov said that anyone who had helped Bulgaria lose money under EU operational programmes had no place in his administration, and people on the boards of state-owned companies would no longer get 10 000 leva salaries. To live up to people’s great expectations, however, he would undoubtedly need the support of his fellow party members who, with the exception of three of four people, are basically unknown outside their birthplaces.

Saxe-Coburg had the same problem in 2001 when his win sent to Parliament a number of people inexperienced in politics, which later led to the split of the party, an option Borissov is yet to experience as leader of a party that is the biggest, and yet one of the youngest, in Bulgaria.