Boyko Borisov

Boyko Metodiev Borisov (born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria on three separate occasions, serving a total of 9 years between 2009 and 2021, making him the country's longest-serving post-communist Prime Minister. A member of the GERB party, which he founded and currently leads, he previously served as Mayor of Sofia from 2005 to 2009. Borisov remains politically active to date and currently serves as a Member of the National Assembly. Borisov was elected mayor of Sofia in 2005. In December 2005, he was the founding chair of the conservative political party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), becoming its lead candidate in the 2009 general election. Borisov led GERB to a landslide victory in 2009, defeating the incumbent Socialist Party, and resigned as mayor of Sofia to be sworn in as prime minister. He resigned in 2013, following nationwide protests against the government's energy policy, but after leading GERB to victory in the 2014 general election, he was again named Bulgaria's prime minister. His second term ended similarly to his first, after Borisov resigned in January 2017, this time following GERB's defeat in the 2016 presidential election. As before, Borisov led GERB to election victory again in the snap 2017 general election, becoming prime minister for a third time. Borisov-led governing coalitions, Bulgaria experienced an improvement in macroeconomic situation and general political stability; however, it remained the EU's poorest member state (in terms of GDP per capita), with nearly a quarter of its population living below the national poverty lines. Foreign direct investment fell, and corruption has led, as recently as June 2019, to repeated rejection of Bulgaria's attempts to join the Schengen Area. Electoral results for Borisov and his party were overshadowed by allegations of fraud in 2013, 2015,...