🇧🇬 Bulgarian elections megathread (next up: European and National (?) Parliament 09 June 2024)

[Beagle]

By the powers vested in me by, uh, being Bulgarian, I designate this the Bulgarian Elections Megathread.

Here is a collection of all the previous Bulgarian election threads, which may or may not be useful reading for anybody who wants to gain some understanding of Bulgarian politics:

Presidential elections: 2006, 2011, 2016
Parliamentary elections: 2005, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017
Local elections: 2011, 2015/2019

[Beagle]

I have designated this the elections thread, not 'politics and elections' thread. In the past, GMantis and I have tried to put in a lot of detail about the parties, personalities and policies that factor in Bulgarian politics, but I don't think I'm going to do that anymore. There are three main reasons and I think it will work as a sort of explainer for a lot of what follows in the upcoming posts.

1) A chronicle of Bulgarian politics will read a lot like a classical Russian novel – a bunch of loathsome characters doing loathsome things to other loathsome characters without any plot twists, dei ex machina, happy endings or redeeming features whatsoever, to the point where the reader, which would be you, wishes that the entire cast is hit by a train (but only one train, wtf, Tolstoy) - including the narrator, which would be me.

2) Over the past few years I've had a lot first and second hand observations which lead me to firmly believe that much of the Bulgarian political theater is actually kabuki between various patronage networks that bear increasingly less allegiance to their ostensible ideologies. I am not going to expound on this other than butchering the English language a bit – hopefully you'll understand what I mean:

Everybody who is somebody has somebody who has an 'in' with anybody who is somebody

3) Most importantly,  policies and personalities and even scandals matter little when according to a reputable poll, when asked 'How much attention do you pay to political news', 75% answered with “None at all”. Flooding the zone with sh*t has always come naturally to GERB and, especially considering the horrendous media landscape, this has lead to people – understandably - tuning everything out. Approximately half of those 3 out of 4 are at least semi-regular voters, though, and AFAIK they base their vote on their personal feelings for and against Boyko Borisov – the latter camp may be actually larger, but it scatters their vote between the opposition parties.

[Beagle]

As to the election where polls open in less than 24 hours – 240 seats in parliament will be voted on in 31 multi-member districts with mostly closed lists and 4% threshold and will be distributed through Hare-Niemeyer (on the national level).

Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic – it bears repeating, since the outgoing parliament has been by far the weakest wielder of legislative power since Communist times. Borisov last made an appearance in the parliament hall back in October 2019 and has refused to answer any opposition queries since then, and it's not like there has been that much opposition. When you also take into account Covid restrictions, the fact that 3 out of the 4 expected top parties' leaders refuse to debate or give interviews, as well as the poor weather outlook, this will without a doubt be the lowest turnout parliamentary election since 1990. The general assumption is that low turnout favors the established parties, while ITN and IS! MV! would be hurt.

Here's where I think things stand (my expected range is based on polling, taking into account the known biases of the pollsters, the trend is over the past 30 days of campaign)

GERB (leader: Boyko Borisov, 2017 – 32.6%)
Expected range – 26-32%
Trend: slightly upward, mostly because of 'better the devil you know' low propensity voters

BSP (leader: Kornelia Ninova, 2017 – 27.2%)
Expected range – 18-24%
Trend: sharply downward, although it must be said that the two 'red' pollsters are both owned by people who are very much opposed to Ninova and may not be overestimating the BSP support like in the past

ITN [Ima takav narod, “There are such people”] (leader: Slavi Trifonov, 2017 – N/A)
Expected range – 14-18%
Trend: upward, mostly from 'a pox on both their houses' voters
[for more on Trifonov, see the 2016 presidential and the 2017 parliament election threads]

DPS (leader: Mustafa Karadayi, 2017 – 9%)
Expected range – 12-20%
Trend: stagnant. I mean, there are literally tens of thousands who are voting for DPS tomorrow but won't know it until the money exchanges hands, but the DPS voters are generally not swayable by political campaigning

DB [Democratic Bulgaria - the 'Old Right', a coalition between Yes, Bulgaria, the Greens and DSB] (leader: no individual leader; 2017 – 2.9 for Yes, Bulgaria and the Greens; 2.4% for DSB)
Expected range – 5-7%
Trend – N/A, all parties in this range are too close to the MoE to make out any discernible trend

IS!MV! [Izpravi se! Mutri van!, “Rise up! Thugs out!”] (leader: Maya Manolova, 2017 – N/A)
Expected range – 3.5 – 6%
[for more on Manolova, see toward the end of the the 2015/2019 local elections thread]

VMRO (leader: Krasimir Karakachanov, 2017 – 9,3% as part of the United Patriots coalition with NFSB and Attack)
Expected range – 2.5 – 4.5%

[origin stories for the more creatively named parties available upon request]

There are no less than 7 additional parties about whose entry in parliament I can create a plausible narrative, but as the reputable polling suggests they will stay below the 4% threshold, I will cover them only in case the exit polls tomorrow show they have a reasonable chance of making it. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out how it is common across the world for politicians to make a big show of signing a contract/covenant with the country, but what happens if they break that contract? Well, Vesselin Mareshki, leader of the Volya party (who are running an opportunistic coalition with another party currently in parliament – NFSB), has a contract with Bulgaria available at his gas stations and pharmacies.  If you sign it, and Volya-NFSB come first or second in your district, and within 2 years you don't have a state- or privately owned gas station within 30 kms of your home where you can buy gasoline at least 7.5 eurocents cheaper than the average for the area, Mareshki, who is a multimillionaire, will personally pay you 5000 BGN (approximately €2.5k). And when will ur flop parties, huh?

Government formation is going to be a nightmare, as there are no two parties who appear likely to be able to have a majority on their own– not even the suicide pact that would be a GERB-BSP 'grand' coalition. The only three parties that have expressed willingness to work together are the three extra-parliamentary parties, who even in a best case scenario for them will not come close to 120 seats. Right now everybody is playing a waiting game to see which parties actually make it – a 5-party parliament is going to be a different universe from a 7-party one. Most of the tea leaves readers seem to agree that unless a clear coalition is available – which appears extremely unlikely today – there will be a 'technocratic' government to last until the Presidential election in November, in which an 'axis of evil' of GERB, DPS and parts of BSP will attempt to knock off the incumbent Radev. It is considered anathema for GERB to yield power to a caretaker government appointed by Radev, so they might be willing to support even a rather unfavorable government until – they hope – another president is inaugurated in January. The problem is that Borisov – who clearly wants the position – is presumably smart enough to realize that unless something radically changes until the autumn, he'd lose and he'd lose ugly.

In any event in a few days Slavi Trifonov will, in all likelihood, be kingmaker. I am, unfortunately, the worst person to ask about what he is going to do, since the last time I watched his show was 2004, I was home alone sick from school and the cat was sleeping on me so I couldn't get up to get the remote. I hated every minute of it and I've never watched him again. Since all candidates of his party are strictly prohibited from giving interviews or making TV appearances on channels other than the party's own and since they are by and large political unknowns, ITN is a riddle wrapped in an enigma... but I'm pretty sure there is organized crime in the kernel.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

[Estrella]

I'm aware that Romania and Bulgaria have less in common than people often assume, which might make comparisions between them iffy, but it's kind of strange to see where the countries were politically in the Ceaușescu/Zhivkov days and where they are now. Contrary to what would have been expected, Romania now seems to have a healthier democracy than Bulgaria, with an actual anti-corruption party as a major player, a draconian National Anticorruption Directorate, stable-ish party system and so on.

Do you have any idea why?

[MRCVzla]

I recommend this very useful Twitter thread about basic information about the parties running on tomorrow elections:
https://twitter.com/politics_bg/status/1376138761843716102

Maybe relevant how the "new" parties (ITN, ISMV) will perform and if one or both nationalist right-wing parties (VMRO and/or Volya-NFSB ticket) will surpass the 4% threshold, expect low turnout due to political apathy rather than corona as they reports.

[RGM2609]

I'm aware that Romania and Bulgaria have less in common than people often assume, which might make comparisions between them iffy, but it's kind of strange to see where the countries were politically in the Ceaușescu/Zhivkov days and where they are now. Contrary to what would have been expected, Romania now seems to have a healthier democracy than Bulgaria, with an actual anti-corruption party as a major player, a draconian National Anticorruption Directorate, stable-ish party system and so on.

Do you have any idea why?

My best guess would be that in an interesting cause-and-effect relationship, the Romanian people were left with somewhat stronger pro-democratic instincts than Bulgarians exactly because of how much worse communism was for them. But still, it took 30 years for Romania to get to this point (and still PSD is the largest party and the far right is rising), post-communism was a mess to get over. I hope and think that the political situation in Bulgaria will begin to improve soon, one can not fight the course of history forever (if anyone would have told me in 2011-2012 what Romania would look like right now, I would have laughed so hard). Beagle can correct me if I am wrong in my assumption.

[Beagle]

I'm aware that Romania and Bulgaria have less in common than people often assume, which might make comparisions between them iffy, but it's kind of strange to see where the countries were politically in the Ceaușescu/Zhivkov days and where they are now. Contrary to what would have been expected, Romania now seems to have a healthier democracy than Bulgaria, with an actual anti-corruption party as a major player, a draconian National Anticorruption Directorate, stable-ish party system and so on.

Do you have any idea why?

My best guess would be that in an interesting cause-and-effect relationship, the Romanian people were left with somewhat stronger pro-democratic instincts than Bulgarians exactly because of how much worse communism was for them. But still, it took 30 years for Romania to get to this point (and still PSD is the largest party and the far right is rising), post-communism was a mess to get over. I hope and think that the political situation in Bulgaria will begin to improve soon, one can not fight the course of history forever (if anyone would have told me in 2011-2012 what Romania would look like right now, I would have laughed so hard). Beagle can correct me if I am wrong in my assumption.

This is technically politics and not elections and a complete answer would require pages upon pages, but briefly:

- RGM is correct: Bulgaria in general - and obviously there are counterexamples - has been governed remarkably moderately for a Balkan country and certainly did not have anybody as malevolent as Iliescu in a position of power in the past 25 years. Civic society generally is strong enough to block the worst excesses* and at since the government of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha there is a general agreement that politics is not a zero-sum game and the parties in opposition are allowed to have a seat at the table where the spoils are divided. As a result, dissatisfaction is always bubbling, but never really boiling over, and since the catastrophe of 96-97, there really haven't been any 'cathartic' events that would bring about radical transformation. In the same timespan I can name three such occasions in Romania (maybe not to the level of the Kuciak murder in Slovakia, but enough to cause a 15 point shift in opinion polling virtually overnight)

* wracking my brain for an English equivalent to German Schweinerei, any suggestions?

- RGM opened my eyes to a marked difference between Romania and Bulgaria - both countries have substantial diasporas, but apparently the share (at least among voters) of menial workers is much higher in Romania. The Bulgarian emigrants tend to be the activist type and in their absence, the critical mass needed to achieve a positive change is much harder to achieve.

- I was going to write something about the utter collapse (financial, moral and otherwise) of traditional media in Bulgaria, but I'm not really familiar with the media landscape in Romania to make a comparison.

- last but not least: personalities do matter. The 97-01 'Old Right' PM's choice to appoint a sycophantic paranoid schizophrenic as chief prosecutor (who eventually turned against the PM) left the criminal justice system a mess that was ripe for takeover by the current puppetmasters.

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

- last but not least: personalities do matter. The 97-01 'Old Right' PM's choice to appoint a sycophantic paranoid schizophrenic as chief prosecutor (who eventually turned against the PM) left the criminal justice system a mess that was ripe for takeover by the current puppetmasters.

Wait, what?

[Tender Branson]

Who the f**k is holding an election on an Easter Sunday ?

[RGM2609]

Who the f**k is holding an election on an Easter Sunday ?

Bulgaria is Orthodox, we don't celebrate Easter on the same day as Catholics

[Tender Branson]

Who the f**k is holding an election on an Easter Sunday ?

Bulgaria is Orthodox, we don't celebrate Easter on the same day as Catholics

Interesting.

I thought that's only for Christmas.

[GMantis]

Great work, Beagle. I haven't been very involved in Bulgarian politics (due to wanting to avoid depression), so thank you for making this thread.

There isn't really much for me to add, but still some comments:

Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic – it bears repeating, since the outgoing parliament has been by far the weakest wielder of legislative power since Communist times. Borisov last made an appearance in the parliament hall back in October 2019 and has refused to answer any opposition queries since then, and it's not like there has been that much opposition. When you also take into account Covid restrictions, the fact that 3 out of the 4 expected top parties' leaders refuse to debate or give interviews, as well as the poor weather outlook, this will without a doubt be the lowest turnout parliamentary election since 1990. The general assumption is that low turnout favors the established parties, while ITN and IS! MV! would be hurt.

You're right about the current parliament, but in practice, parliament has never really held any power compared to the prime minister. Though at least earlier parliaments contained independent thinkers, but all parties have gained enough experience at this point to keep them out.

GERB (leader: Boyko Borisov, 2017 – 32.6%)
Expected range – 26-32%
Trend: slightly upward, mostly because of 'better the devil you know' low propensity voters

Also with the depressed turnout, the GERB turn-out machine will be much more effective.

BSP (leader: Kornelia Ninova, 2017 – 27.2%)
Expected range – 18-24%
Trend: sharply downward, although it must be said that the two 'red' pollsters are both owned by people who are very much opposed to Ninova and may not be overestimating the BSP support like in the past

Also, BSP is bleeding support to ITN (protest voters) and IS!MV! (people who like Manolova).

ITN [Ima takav narod, “There are such people”] (leader: Slavi Trifonov, 2017 – N/A)
Expected range – 14-18%
Trend: upward, mostly from 'a pox on both their houses' voters
[for more on Trifonov, see the 2016 presidential and the 2017 parliament election threads]

Judging on my comment there, I seem to have underestimated him...

DPS (leader: Mustafa Karadayi, 2017 – 9%)
Expected range – 12-20%
Trend: stagnant. I mean, there are literally tens of thousands who are voting for DPS tomorrow but won't know it until the money exchanges hands, but the DPS voters are generally not swayable by political campaigning

Good to put a high upper bound, because they're always underestimated by pollsters. Also, they've made up with Erdogan, so they can expect their usual larger vote numbers from Turkey.

There are no less than 7 additional parties about whose entry in parliament I can create a plausible narrative, but as the reputable polling suggests they will stay below the 4% threshold, I will cover them only in case the exit polls tomorrow show they have a reasonable chance of making it. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out how it is common across the world for politicians to make a big show of signing a contract/covenant with the country, but what happens if they break that contract? Well, Vesselin Mareshki, leader of the Volya party (who are running an opportunistic coalition with another party currently in parliament – NFSB), has a contract with Bulgaria available at his gas stations and pharmacies.  If you sign it, and Volya-NFSB come first or second in your district, and within 2 years you don't have a state- or privately owned gas station within 30 kms of your home where you can buy gasoline at least 7.5 eurocents cheaper than the average for the area, Mareshki, who is a multimillionaire, will personally pay you 5000 BGN (approximately €2.5k). And when will ur flop parties, huh?

I think it's 10% in a municipality, which isn't quite as unlikely, especially since they're in a coalition with NFSB which has some regional strength around Burgas.

Government formation is going to be a nightmare, as there are no two parties who appear likely to be able to have a majority on their own– not even the suicide pact that would be a GERB-BSP 'grand' coalition. The only three parties that have expressed willingness to work together are the three extra-parliamentary parties, who even in a best case scenario for them will not come close to 120 seats. Right now everybody is playing a waiting game to see which parties actually make it – a 5-party parliament is going to be a different universe from a 7-party one. Most of the tea leaves readers seem to agree that unless a clear coalition is available – which appears extremely unlikely today – there will be a 'technocratic' government to last until the Presidential election in November, in which an 'axis of evil' of GERB, DPS and parts of BSP will attempt to knock off the incumbent Radev. It is considered anathema for GERB to yield power to a caretaker government appointed by Radev, so they might be willing to support even a rather unfavorable government until – they hope – another president is inaugurated in January. The problem is that Borisov – who clearly wants the position – is presumably smart enough to realize that unless something radically changes until the autumn, he'd lose and he'd lose ugly.

Or more likely a coalition will be a formed between GERB and a few other parties - starting with ITN who will break their promises about not allying with GERB. None of these parties are interested in a second election so soon (due to their more limited financial resources) and as you  correctly point out, GERB does not want to run under an interim government appointed by Radev (the fact that a large part of BSP also wants to knock out Radev is a good indication of why that party is going nowhere).

In any event in a few days Slavi Trifonov will, in all likelihood, be kingmaker. I am, unfortunately, the worst person to ask about what he is going to do, since the last time I watched his show was 2004, I was home alone sick from school and the cat was sleeping on me so I couldn't get up to get the remote. I hated every minute of it and I've never watched him again. Since all candidates of his party are strictly prohibited from giving interviews or making TV appearances on channels other than the party's own and since they are by and large political unknowns, ITN is a riddle wrapped in an enigma... but I'm pretty sure there is organized crime in the kernel.

Unfortunately, I see far too much in common between Borisov and Trifonov - starting with playing to the lowest common denominator in society...

[Ethelberth]

In Bulgaria vodka is only drink allowed last week before Easter, so they all have huge hang-over while voting

[GMantis]

Who the f**k is holding an election on an Easter Sunday ?

Bulgaria is Orthodox, we don't celebrate Easter on the same day as Catholics

Interesting.

I thought that's only for Christmas.

This is actually on the same day in Bulgaria (and a few other countries).

[Tender Branson]

Turnout very low.

Maybe only 45% (down from 54% in 2017).

Bulgaria's population is shrinking fast, so that's a reason and maybe COVID.

[GMantis]

Turnout very low.

Maybe only 45% (down from 54% in 2017).

Bulgaria's population is shrinking fast, so that's a reason and maybe COVID.

Not that low really. By 5pm it was about 40%, compared to about 43% in 2017.

[Tender Branson]

Turnout very low.

Maybe only 45% (down from 54% in 2017).

Bulgaria's population is shrinking fast, so that's a reason and maybe COVID.

Not that low really. By 5pm it was about 40%, compared to about 43% in 2017.

I only had the 12:00 numbers available.

It still only has those numbers, no 17:00 numbers:

https://results.cik.bg/pi2021/aktivnost/

Also, why does it say 6.5 million registered voters - when Austrian/German newspapers say 6.7 million registered voters ?

Are there 200.000 Bulgarians registered to vote abroad ?

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

This thread is great!

Bulgaria is a nation I want to develop a greater interest in. All I know that has not already been mentioned here, though, is that some days ago I watched a TV news report about the country which among other things talked about mafia networks who import Italian rubbish and illegally burn it in Bulgarian incinerators.

[Tender Branson]

How did Bansko ski resort vote in 2017 ?

[GMantis]

In other news, as in every Bulgarian elections, there have been election day only rankings, with every element in the ranking a transparent stand-by for a political party. The latest, shown here, at least shows some originality by using weather forecasts:

GERB - 24.2%
BSP - 16%
ITN - 15%
DPS - 9.5%
DB - 9%
IS!MV! - 5%
VMRO - 4.5%

These results have been so alarming that BSP have held a press conference to denounce the "false polls", but this is not going to be of much use, what with these violations never being addressed.

[GMantis]

Turnout very low.

Maybe only 45% (down from 54% in 2017).

Bulgaria's population is shrinking fast, so that's a reason and maybe COVID.

Not that low really. By 5pm it was about 40%, compared to about 43% in 2017.

I only had the 12:00 numbers available.

It still only has those numbers, no 17:00 numbers:

https://results.cik.bg/pi2021/aktivnost/

Also, why does it say 6.5 million registered voters - when Austrian/German newspapers say 6.7 million registered voters ?

Are there 200.000 Bulgarians registered to vote abroad ?

There has been an update by the Central Election Commision.

As for the total number of registered voters, there are indeed about 6.5 million of them (on paper, in reality there a lot fewer voters actually living in the country). I have no idea where the 6.7 million figure comes from. There is certainly no registration of voters living outside the country.

[GMantis]

How did Bansko ski resort vote in 2017 ?

GERB - 48.8%, BSP - 23.6%, Volya - 11.5%, NFSB - 7.1%.

[Tender Branson]

Turnout very low.

Maybe only 45% (down from 54% in 2017).

Bulgaria's population is shrinking fast, so that's a reason and maybe COVID.

Not that low really. By 5pm it was about 40%, compared to about 43% in 2017.

I only had the 12:00 numbers available.

It still only has those numbers, no 17:00 numbers:

https://results.cik.bg/pi2021/aktivnost/

Also, why does it say 6.5 million registered voters - when Austrian/German newspapers say 6.7 million registered voters ?

Are there 200.000 Bulgarians registered to vote abroad ?

There has been an update by the Central Election Commision.

As for the total number of registered voters, there are indeed about 6.5 million of them (on paper, in reality there a lot fewer voters actually living in the country). I have no idea where the 6.7 million figure comes from. There is certainly no registration of voters living outside the country.

It's absurd to think that Bulgaria would have 6.53 million registered voters, when the total population has declined by almost 70.000 last year to less than 6.8 million.

I don't think there are more than 5 million actual registered voters (if you remove all the dead people still on the papers and those who moved abroad).

Which would mean real turnout is not 50% today, but more like 60%+.

[Mike88]

Polls close in half an hour, right?

[Tender Branson]

Also, why does it say 6.5 million registered voters - when Austrian/German newspapers say 6.7 million registered voters ?

Are there 200.000 Bulgarians registered to vote abroad ?

I have no idea where the 6.7 million figure comes from. There is certainly no registration of voters living outside the country.

Austrian+German media says 6.7 million:

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute-sendungen/parlamentswahl-bulgarien-video-100.html

https://www.sn.at/politik/weltpolitik/opposition-hofft-bei-parlamentswahl-in-bulgarien-auf-wandel-101969017

Maybe because they don't understand that Bulgaria is rapidely shrinking.

The Central Voting Commission had

6.810.341 registered voters in 2017
6.525.625 registered voters today

Austrian+German media then is like: "Let's subtract 100.000 people from the 2017 number and it will probably be OK ..."