SOFIA, July 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bulgarians go to the polls for a second time in three months on Sunday hoping the political parties can this time agree on a stable government coalition.
After almost a decade in power, the conservative GERB party of three-time Prime Minister Boyko Borisov came out first in the last election in April with 26 percent of ballots.
But badly damaged after massive anti-corruption protests in summer 2020, GERB was isolated in a fragmented legislature and failed to find partners to govern.
Since then, the 62-year-old Borisov — a former bodyguard with a black belt in karate — has suffered a series of further blows from revelations by the interim cabinet about bad governance and allegations of corruption under his watch.
On top of that came unprecedented US sanctions against Bulgarian oligarchs who, according to Borisov’s critics, were favoured during his time running the European Union’s poorest and most graft-ridden member state.
The veteran Borisov, whose political longevity has marked Bulgaria’s post-communist history, has denied any wrongdoing.
At a closing rally in Sofia on Friday evening he slammed the interim administration for allegedly using “the terror and repression” against him.
Eve-of-ballot polls put GERB neck-and-neck and even second behind the new anti-establishment party There is Such a People (ITN) of singer and TV host Slavi Trifonov, which rode public discontent to surge to a surprise second in April with 17.6 percent.
Now polls credit both rival parties with 20-21 percent.
For the first time, voting will be primarily by machine in a bid to limit voter fraud.
The interim cabinet has set out to try to limit widespread vote buying and voter intimidation — long established political party practices which account for 5-19 percent of the vote, according to the Sofia-based Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation.
More than 900 people have been detained recently for allegedly trying to bribe poverty-stricken voters with 20-50 leva (10-25 euros), firewood and even basic food such as flour, bread or lentils, Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov said.
Voting begins at 7 am and closes at 8 pm with exit poll results expected shortly after. — NNN-AGENCIES
