Last Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Bulgaria ended in a victory for the center-right party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) which polled 31.37 percent of votes. However, it is in fact a defeat rather than a victory because the party led by ex-premier Boyko Borisov will have 98 seats in a 240-seat parliament. It is already known that none of the three parties that managed to cross the four-percent election threshold is going to join a coalition with GERB. This means the government will be formed by the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party which garnered 27.3 percent of the votes and will have 86 seats. Its future coalition partners, the liberal party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which defends the interests of ethnic Turks and other Muslims, and the far right nationalist party ATAKA, won 9.14 and 7.59 percent of the votes and will have 33 and 23 MPs, respectively.
It will be recalled that it was an early parliamentary election. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced the resignation of the Cabinet on February 20 against the background of public protests sparked in mid-February by a sharp rise in energy prices.
Incidentally, the turnout was very low – less than 50 percent of Bulgaria’s 6.9 million registered voters.
Observers note that the elections were marred by allegations of attempted vote-rigging. Shortly before the elections, Bulgarian prosecutors seized 350,000 fake ballots – an unprecedented event in the republic’s latter-day history.
Bulgaria’s prosecution service has opened 331 cases over the infringement of political rights during the May 12 general elections. Prosecutors have also launched preliminary investigation into 54 cases, 17 of which are about vote-buying. In three cases, offenses were allegedly masterminded by criminal groups.
On Sunday, about 200 people who protested against the election results tried to take by storm the press center in the country’s capital Sofia, where party representatives were going to hold a press conference, the Bulgarian news agency Novinite reports. The protesters showered the police with stones, and the law-enforcers used truncheons in response. No casualties have been reported so far. The agency says the protesters chanted slogans against the ex-premier’s party and demanded that voting results be canceled. The police managed to bring the situation under control.
The Day requested Bulgarian political scientist Ognyan MINCHEV to comment on the election results and forecast further developments in the country.
“The ruling party, GERB, in power since 2009, has again won the elections, but this time it cannot form a majority and a government of its own in parliament. This means that the remaining three parties, which are post-Communist and funded by pro-Russian Bulgarian oligarchs, resorted to ugly methods, shady schemes, and all kinds of mud-slinging against their opponents in the election campaign. They achieved their goal in the long run. The Bulgarian Socialist Party – the successor of Communists – in conjunction with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), a party of Turkish nationalists, and the far right Bulgarian nationalist party ATAKA, will work to form a new coalition government, which will be a sheer paradox because the Bulgarian and Turkish nationalist parties have been at daggers drawn in the past ten years.”
What is the thing that unites them with the Socialists?
“What unites them is thirst for power and a desire to receive big money for serving Russian oligarchic interests in Bulgaria.”
Are these parties and the Socialists really being financed by Russian oligarchs? Who exactly?
“There are various oligarchic groups that finance them, but, in the long run, the goal of their rule is what I have already said.”
But Bulgaria is an EU member, and it has certain commitments to meet…
“That’s right, but Brussels has loosened its grip lately due to the crisis of European structures. And Russian energy oligarchs have always wielded a great deal of clout in Bulgaria. When GERB government with Premier Borisov at the head was in power, it suspended the construction of a nuclear power plant in Pelevin and came into a very serious conflict with these energy oligarchic circles which are in fact helping Russia to exert influence on Bulgarian policies and economy.”
Why are the people giving in to all this and why do they allow some politicians to be bribed?
“The people were very disappointed with the intensive and dirty campaign that the Socialists and their accomplices have been waging in the past month. Nevertheless, GERB is now the No.1 party in parliament, but it lacks seats to form a new government.”
So, it is obvious now that three parties will form a Cabinet without GERB. What do you think will be the course of this majority?
“It is too early to say what course the new government will follow. As a European Union member, Bulgaria is not in a position to pursue a sovereign economic policy. It has to stick to the Brussels-imposed pattern. The point is whether or not there will be big corruption and whether or not the state will be able to manage effectively. Unfortunately, the coalition now in the making will not be able to rule effectively. A similar coalition ruled the country in 2005-09. They were removed from power. They were very much corrupt and inefficient as managers.”
In other words, as a political scientist, you expect nothing good from this tripartite alliance?
“I think there will be a period of instability, new civil protests, and economic difficulties.”
