Bulgarian elections

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Looks like the post-Commies are going to win. Unless the exit polls are wrong.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Good. Nothing wrong with those parties as long as they don't run the place like they did during the Cold War.

[freek]

Too bad. I hoped for the party of the former king to win. He led the first decent government since the fall of communism.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Is that the same king whose government sided with the Nazis in WWII?

[J. J.]

Is that the same king whose government sided with the Nazis in WWII?

Two things should be noted.  First Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was less than a six or seven year old, IIRC, when the Soviets entered Bulgaria.

Second, even King Boris III was not a strong ally of the Nazis, refusing to approve of Jewish deportations.  The Bulgarian Jewry were largely protected in WW II Bulgaria.

[Bono]

They were giving out cars and otehr prizes with hopes of increasing turnout.

[minionofmidas]

Is that the same king whose government sided with the Nazis in WWII?

Two things should be noted.  First Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was less than a six or seven year old, IIRC, when the Soviets entered Bulgaria.

'Xactly.

[freek]

The parties passing the 4%-barrier:

Coalition for Bulgaria are the ex-communists and some smaller allies

SIINM is the party of the former king Simeon II

MRF is the party of the Turkish minority (now in the government too)

Attack is a new ultra-nationalist party, opposed to EU accession

UtDF is the Union of Democratic Forces, they used to be the largest right wing party (and also formed a government once or twice) before the king formed his national movement.

DSB is a splitoff of the UtDF, a bit more hardline than the UtDF (new party).

BPU is a christian democratic/agrarian party, already in parliament

[Bono]

The parties passing the 4%-barrier:

Coalition for Bulgaria are the ex-communists and some smaller allies

SIINM is the party of the former king Simeon II

MRF is the party of the Turkish minority (now in the government too)

Attack is a new ultra-nationalist party, opposed to EU accession

UtDF is the Union of Democratic Forces, they used to be the largest right wing party (and also formed a government once or twice) before the king formed his national movement.

DSB is a splitoff of the UtDF, a bit more hardline than the UtDF (new party).

BPU is a christian democratic/agrarian party, already in parliament

So, the ex commies can't really form a government, being that the other parties are all more or less right-wing.

[WMS]

The parties passing the 4%-barrier:

Attack is a new ultra-nationalist party, opposed to EU accession

Gotta love the name though: "Attack"

[minionofmidas]

MRF has governed with the Socialists in the past IIRC. BPU also sounds like an option.
Or a grand coalition. I don't see a viable right or center-right option.

[Beet]

Maybe the Attack party is right about EU accession. Beyond the monetary and trade union, the organization is pretty much a junk pile at this point, anyway.

(Btw, changing my screenname to "NON" and all that crap was just a joke. I would have voted Oui).

[minionofmidas]

Thank God for the Frankfurter Rundschau. Always some of the best coverage of Eastern European and African elections.
Well, first off - while I was right about Socialist-Turkish options, I was wrong about Socialist-BPU. That means there'll likely be a grand coalition, perhaps including MNF as well.

On Attaka:
Their top man is Volen Sidorov. Sidorov used to be the editor-in-chief of the UtDF's newspaper until he was sacked amid (unproved) allegations that he used to work for the Communist era Secret Police. He then went off to some previously little known private TV station and got his own hardhitting politics show, for which the party is named.
Here's what the article says about Sidorov's positions:
-Racist comments against Turks and Roma (who make up 10% and 5% of the population, respectively. Most Bulgarian, and some Romanian gypsies are Muslims btw.) He went as far as demanding Gypsies be put into forced labor camps, a statement he retracted immediately after.
Although the party isn't actually demanding territory, it does talk about "ethnic Bulgaria", which to them includes all of Macedonia (they have a point here, in the Slavic parts), parts of Serbia, small parts of Northern Greece, the area around Edirne in Turkey, and the entire coastal strip in Romania. LMAO.
He has never publicly railed against Bulgaria joining the European Union (probably not a vote getter anyways), although he has commended the French and Dutch for voting no on the EU constitution.

[freek]

On Attaka:

-Racist comments against Turks and Roma (who make up 10% and 5% of the population, respectively. Most Bulgarian, and some Romanian gypsies are Muslims btw.) He went as far as demanding Gypsies be put into forced labor camps, a statement he retracted immediately after.

The best showing of Attaka was in the parts where there is a sizable Turkish minority. That part of the program did it quite well then.

Don't forget that the communists tried to kick all the Turks out of the country (or at least "bulgarize" them) in the eighties. Most Bulgarians are not pro-Turkey, to say it mildly.

[freek]

The socialists and the Turkish minority party have 116 of 240 seats together, just short of a majority, so they do need a third party.

[Notre Dame rules!]

Good. Nothing wrong with those parties as long as they don't run the place like they did during the Cold War.

That's like saying there is nothing wrong with the Nazis, so long as they don't run the place  like they did during World War II.     Rubbish!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

If the party renounced Nazism, did not promote anti-Semitism, or attempt to pass any racially discriminating laws, I don't see what'd be wrong. Of course then they'd basically cease to have any platform at all so I don't see how that could happen.

[Notre Dame rules!]

By the same token, Communism would have to renounce its assault on private property, religion, a free press, market economics, and having children spy on their parents, but that's unlikely to happen also.  Both Communism and Nazism belong on the ash heap of history.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

But this party and the similar ones have done all that. Like I said, as long as they don't run the country like they did during the Cold War, which they aren't. If they still wanted to run the country like a dictatorship, I doubt they'd get many votes, much less a pluarlity.

[minionofmidas]

On Attaka:

-Racist comments against Turks and Roma (who make up 10% and 5% of the population, respectively. Most Bulgarian, and some Romanian gypsies are Muslims btw.) He went as far as demanding Gypsies be put into forced labor camps, a statement he retracted immediately after.

The best showing of Attaka was in the parts where there is a sizable Turkish minority. That part of the program did it quite well then.

Do you have a map? Both of the results and the distribution of minorities?

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Yeah, they tried their hand at racism to save their dieing regime.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yeah, they tried their hand at racism to save their dieing regime.

How many countries has that been true of...

[freek]

Do you have a map? Both of the results and the distribution of minorities?

I have found a minority map:



A map of the distribution of votes I couldn't find yet, but the official results are due today.

[minionofmidas]

That doesn't seem to include Roma.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

That doesn't seem to include Roma.

Lot's in Westmorland

[minionofmidas]

Table, not a map.


EDIT: Sheet, wrong URL. Or rather, the URL doesn't change when you scroll down til you get to Census 2001 results, click there, and pick one of the religion, ethnicity, or mother tongue tables. (They're slight differences in the ethnicity and mother tongue results, due largely to some Roma speaking Bulgarian rather than Romani.)