The country goes to the polls on October 27 mired in an entrenched period of political instability that has seen a succession of governments come and go. October’s vote will be the seventh general election in three years, and follows an inconclusive election in June that provided no clear winner.
Numerous attempts to form a coalition government from Bulgaria’s bickering political parties also came to nothing; fueling what appears to be a growing sense of disillusionment in Bulgaria with its political class.
September 27 marks the first official day of campaigning in the latest round of voting.
The opinion poll by the company Alpha Research found that 61.6% of Bulgarian adults define the current situation as “extremely worrying, with destabilization and non-functioning institutions.”
Alpha also said that “Bulgarians enter the campaign tired and demotivated by the fruitlessness of the June election”.
Adding to its grim findings the poll also revealed that 53.8% of voters expect no government to emerge after October 27.
This opinion reflects the dispersed support for the myriads of parties expected to enter the Bulgarian parliament after the election. The Alpha poll said up to seven parties could win parliamentary seats but not one party will have enough to gain an absolute majority.
The biggest winner, according to the poll, would be the center-right GERB-UDF, with 23.9% of the vote. If these figures become reality on October 27 then they could herald yet more political instability for Bulgaria and the prospect of more elections given that the GERB-UDF got 23.9% of the vote in June and was unable to form a government.
The poll also found that only 30-31% of the electorate plan to vote, a percentage smaller than the 33% who turned out to vote in June. This is, according to Alpha, a “logical trend given the growing disillusionment with the parties and increasing doubts that a government will be formed.”
