Protest Vote May Disturb Calculations of Big Parties in Bulgaria - Expert

Genoveva Petrova from the Alpha Research polling agency has suggested that the early elections in Bulgaria on October 5 will play out according to the existing forecasts, with the main political parties retaining their positions.

In a Tuesday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Petrova described the ongoing election campaign as boring and lackluster.

She said that Bulgarians were unlikely to complain of the lack of a heated election campaign because there was a feeling of great disappointment from political parties among Bulgarian citizens.

The political scientist noted that the election campaign brought up the question of whether a year of protests would result in a serious protest vote at the elections.

“I suspect that the big parties are deliberately refraining from an active and interesting campaign because they are trying to avoid a potential wave of protests. However, experience has shown that it is possible to witness the rise of a protest party in the last few weeks before the elections even in the case of such an election campaign. Protest vote remains to be an unknown that may play havoc with the calculations of the big parties,” she said.

Petrova claimed that it was possible to register a lower turnout at the upcoming elections compared to the early elections in 2013.

“Low turnout benefits parties with a solid core of supporters because they manage to mobilize their supporters to vote,” she explained.

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