Bulgaria's Ruling GERB Loses Ground over Scandals

For the first time since the GERB cabinet took office, Regional Minister, Rosen Plevneliev (pictured), beats in ratings Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov. Photo by BGNES

For the first time since the center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party took office in the summer of 2009 there is a slump in its ratings, a poll shows.

The poll was conducted by the "Alfa Research" agency between December 4 and 12, among 1 2002 Bulgarians, ages 18 and over.

The most negative influence is attributed to recent scandals – the Members of the Parliaments, who left work to receive expensive cell phones as gifts; the saga with the ousted CEO of the State Agriculture Fund, Kalina Georgieva; scandals surrounding property deals of Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, and of the Chair of the Sofia Municipal Council, Andrey Ivanov.

GERB's image is boasted mainly by the election of Kristalina Georgieva for EU Commissioner and European of the Year (67%) and the demolition of illegal buildings (46%).

The agreements signed with Russia for joint energy projects – the "South Stream" gas pipeline and the second Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in the Danube town of Belene have triggered contradictory reactions – one third of Bulgarians approve, while another 40% say they would refrain from voicing any opinions before all details become clear.

Those giving negative marks to Tsvetanov have increased by 12%, resulting in him not leading by ratings for the first time. Ratings of Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov (5%), Culture Minister, Vezhdi Rashidov (19%), and Education Minister, Sergey Ignatov (7%) are also down.

Regional Minister, Rosen Plevneliev, continues to enjoy positive ratings, along with Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, and Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov. The latter receives the approval of the business and highly qualified employees, living in the largest cities.

Lower ratings of ministers lead to lower overall ratings for the cabinet.

One of the most active Bulgarian politicians, President Georgi Parvanov, also continues to lose ground, partly over the launch of, what he calls, the civic initiative ABV (Alternative for Bulgarian Revival – acronym standing for the first three letters of the Bulgarian alphabet.)
Positive assessment of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, is also going down with 42% approval.

Among political parties, GERB remains the leader with 27%; the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has 15.2%, which is a slight increase; the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) keeps its 5%; the right-wing Blue Coalition has 4.4% and the far-right, nationalist Ataka party has 3%.

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