In Bulgaria's prime ministerial race, a former wrestler scores a big takedown

Investors are also likely to give GERB the benefit of the doubt, despite its somewhat threadbare policy platform.

The expectation is that Borisov will surround himself with a cabinet of technocrats, fulfilling GERB's claims to being a center-right party with a pro-business agenda, according to Ivan Krastev, a political analyst. As evidence, he points to Simeon Dyankov, formerly a senior economist at the World Bank, who is tipped to become Finance Minister.

"GERB's policy prescriptions could have been more detailed, but Dyankov is well aware of reforms made in other countries," says Svetla Kostadinova, executive director of the Sofia-based Institute for Market Economics. "If he's appointed, we should see the quick implementation of changes that are quite vital for Bulgaria."

A crossroads of energy and graft

The incoming government must also address Bulgaria's opaque public finances and "reassure our European partners that corruption will no longer be such a big issue" in order to release more than half a billion euros from Brussels. Those funds have been frozen over the past two years amid accusations of graft and a failure to address organized crime in the Balkan country, Ms. Kostadinova adds.

It is far from obvious what concrete measures can and will be made to root out these problems, but Borisov has clearly staked his reputation on doing so.

Perhaps even more important from a European perspective will be the new government's approach to energy policy. A gas crisis in January, when Moscow shut off pipelines to Ukraine, temporarily cutting supply to Bulgaria, cruelly highlighted the country's overreliance on Russian fuel.

Bulgaria lies on the route of both Gazprom's South Stream gas pipeline and the proposed Nabucco project, an EU and US-backed line intended to diversify the continent's supply away from the Russian monopolist. The outgoing government defied expert opinion by claiming that the two schemes were not mutually exclusive; its successor may have to make a hard choice one way or the other.

Unusual as Barisov's background may be, Bulgarians and the international community alike will be hoping that their new leader can reinvigorate the drawn-out process of reform and European normalization that began with the fall of Communism almost 20 years ago.

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