Public Mistrust of Bulgarian Govt Doubles

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Borisov (right) and Interior Minister Tsvetanov (left) have equal ratings, according to the latest public opinion poll. Photo by BGNES

The public mistrust of the Bulgarian government has seen a substantial increase, according to the latest public opinion poll conducted by Gallup International.

The data from the survey conducted in May 2010 shows that public trust in the Cabinet of the GERB party and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov is 37 %, compared to the expressed mistrust which has gone up to 48 %.

An analysis of the survey in the Bulgarian daily newspaper “Trud” says that the social support for the government is still considerable but there is a trend of growing mistrust.

Another aspect of the survey is related to the public approval for the governing center-right party GERB. As of May 2010, the public trust and mistrust in GERB have almost leveled - 42 % to 41 % respectively. A few months ago GERB's approval exceeded 50 %.

The confidence in the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, has also registered a drop. It has gone down by 15 % to 52% compared with the 67% at the time when he assumed office in July 2009. As for Borisov's lack of confidence – it has doubled since he took over from 15 % up to 31 %.

According to Gallup, the rating of the Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov is exactly the same as Borisov's – 52 %. A week ago, a public opinion poll of the MBMD agency made headlines as it indicated that Tsvetanov had a public rating of 60%, while Borisov keeps his popularity stable at 56%.

The third highest personal rating in the Gallup poll is registered by Bulgaria's EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva – she enjoys 50 % of approval. President Georgi Parvanov is fourth with 41 %.

Although Bulgaria's ruling party GERB shows a drop of 4-5 %, it still holds a considerable lead over the other political parties, whose support shows no tangible change. The Bulgarian Socialist Party has a potential vote of 13 %, while the nationalist party Ataka has registered a 3% drop of its public support.

There is an increasing number of Bulgarians who state that they wouldn't vote. Usually, this number varies from 21 % to 25 % immediately after the elections but it has now gone up to 35 %, according to Gallup, which sees it as a sign of hesitation and even disappointment.

This tendency is considered by the analyst of the newspaper the result of a lack of clear plan of the Borisov government for the future, which is replaced by excessive focus on current affairs.

“Therefore, we witness a chaotic government which leads to unfavorable public opinion, bad economy and drop in interest by foreign investors,” the Trud paper article concludes.

The author criticizes the attitude of the government towards the business sector and the way it perceives the social climate. He claims that the only government branch which is boosting the rating of the Cabinet is the police.

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