King voted out

last updated 8 January 2015

Sofia, Bulgaria

Much of the Bulgarian press this week called for the prime minister and former king to step down to let a Socialist take his place. Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, deposed by the Communists when he was only 8, was elected prime minister in 2001, when he returned home after decades of exile in Spain. In last week’s elections, though, the center-left Socialist Party narrowly beat his center-right Movement for Simeon II party. Neither party has enough seats to form a government alone, and Bulgarian analysts predict the two will have to form a coalition. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said he’s willing to do that, but only if he gets to stay prime minister, a condition the newspapers are ridiculing. Kings may rule for life, said Sofia’s Trud, but “in republics, prime ministers come and go.”