ASSOCIATED PRESS: PARTY OF BULGARIA'S EX-KING WINS PARLIAMENTARY VOTE

Politics | June 19, 2001, Tuesday // 00:00

The party of Bulgaria's former king swept to power in parliamentary elections, with results Monday giving a decisive win to the former monarch who pledged to fight corruption and raise living standards. With most of the vote counted, preliminary results announced Monday by the central electoral commission gave former King Simeon's party, the National Movement Simeon II, 43%. Running second was the governing Union of Democratic Forces with 18% followed by the Socialist party with 17% and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms with 6.7%. Final official results are expected Wednesday, when all parties with at least 4% of the vote are assigned seats. Minor parties that don't meet that standard will have their votes assigned to those that do. It was not immediately clear whether the National Movement will need a coalition partner to govern. Simeon's party promised to create jobs, increase pay and cut taxes to spur investment in a country where the average wage barely tops $100 a month and nearly one in five people is out of work. His assurances of rapid improvement in the lives of ordinary citizens fell on fertile ground in a country where some 70% of the population live at or below the official poverty line. Some 67% of voters nationwide cast ballots, the central electoral commission said. At a news conference late Sunday, Simeon outlined his priorities: stable economic growth, speedy admission into the European Union and NATO and a decisive fight against corruption. "I voted for democracy ... we all have to foster it," the ex-monarch said as he cast his ballot in Sofia's Gorublyane suburb. He said he was voting for the first time in his life. After five decades in exile in Spain, the 64-year-old Simeon returned to Bulgaria early this year to cheering throngs. Though he hoped to run for president, he was barred by the courts because he hadn't lived in Bulgaria long enough. Simeon then set up his own political party to run in the parliamentary race. Simeon has refused so far to say whether he would accept the post of prime minister. Visibly touched by the huge crowd of supporters that waited outside the polling station, Simeon denied he had any desire to restore Bulgaria's monarchy. Simeon ascended to the throne in 1943 at the age of 6 after the death of his father, Boris III. He reigned under regents until 1946, when the communists called a referendum that succeeded in abolishing the monarchy. The royal family then went into exile, eventually settling in Spain. Prime Minister Ivan Kostov conceded defeat Sunday night, blaming it on the heavy burden of the reforms while also admitting his own government's mistakes and failures. "We demanded from the Bulgarian people to pay a higher price than the one they were ready to pay," a grim-faced Kostov told journalists. In all, 50 parties and coalitions vied for 240 seats in the unicameral parliament.

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