Bulgaria's Ruling Party with Minor Lead for Presidential Elections - Poll

PM Borisov's GERB party still has a minor lead for the presidential elections, according to a poll. Photo by BGNES

About 25% of the Bulgarian voters would support a candidate of the ruling center right party in the presidential elections in the fall of 2011, according to a public opinion poll.

Even though political parties have made official their nominations for president yet, and the presidential elections in Bulgaria are considered to be more of a majority vote determined by the personality of the candidates, the poll of the Sofia-based Center for Analyses and Marketing has surveyed the voters' preferences based on both the political parties and some of the potential candidates.

Thus, a candidate of the Bulgarian Socialist Party is forecast to get the support of 14.1% of the voters; of the nationalist party Ataka – 2.6%, of the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) – 2.1%, of the rightist Union of Democratic Forces – 1.7%.

Bulgaria's current Regional Development Minister Rosen Plevneliev, who has been the most popular minister in the GERB and PM Boyko Borisov's Cabinet recently, gets the support of 20.4%; Bulgaria's former Foreign Minister and current Socialist MEP Ivaylo Kaflin gets 13.2%, former Bulgarian EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva – 12.7%, former Bulgarian Foreign Minister and current rightist MEP Nadezhda Neynski – 4.2%, and nationalist party Ataka's leader Volen Siderov (who made the runoff in the 2006 presidential vote) – 4%.

61% of the voters have declared that they will vote in the local elections which will be held together with the presidential vote, while 64% have said that they are not satisfied with the way their local government is run.

Yiliy Pavlov, head of the Center for Analyses and Marketing, has criticized the political for failing to nominate any candidates yet.

The public opinion poll surveyed 1024 Bulgarian citizens between March 19 and March 24, 2011.

The authorities have not even set a date for the holding of the double vote in the fall even though this is expected to happen in November.

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