GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

Berlin asks the most direct question in the entire pool: 'Will a new Viktor Orban govern Bulgaria?' That's the DW headline in German, revealing that for Berlin the stakes aren't Bulgarian but European.

Deutsche Welle in English provides the most detailed analysis of the political landscape. The key figure: this is the first party to win an outright majority since 1997 -- nearly 30 years. Borissov's GERB drops below 20% for the first time in its history, a historic collapse. DW notes only five parties will enter parliament versus nine after the last election -- a radical simplification.

DW in German unveils a biographical detail nobody else mentions: Radev trained as a pilot under the communist dictatorship and was nominated by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (successor to the Communist Party) in 2016. More revealing: DW quotes Leonid Reshetnikov, a former Russian spy, who reportedly boasted of having negotiated Radev's candidacy with the BSP leadership. Germany doesn't ask 'Is Radev pro-Russian?' -- it documents the channels through which Moscow invested in his career.