Sociologist: Bulgarian Parties Cheat by Not Announcing Presidential Bids

54% of all Bulgarians will vote in the upcoming presidential elections, according to a recent poll. File photo

If general elections were to be held now, GERB would get 29.3% of the vote compared to 31.4% in January, 2011, a recent poll reveals.

The poll was conducted by the Center for Analysis and Marketing (CAM) between March 19 and 25 among 1024 Bulgarian citizens.

The opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, has 16.3% and 11.7% respectively for March and January 2011. The ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms DPS with 6.4% and 5.7%; the far-right, nationalist Ataka party with 3.8% and 3.3% and the Blue Coalition of the right-wing Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, DSB, with 3.7% and 3%, also register an improvement.

39% of the respondents say they stand in the center of the political spectrum; 16% are on the right, 20% - on the center-right; 13% - on the center-left, and 12% are on the left.

CAM Director, Yuliy Pavlov, says it is almost certain Bulgaria's next President will be from GERB, and points out political parties are cheating the Bulgarian voter by not announcing their candidates yet. In all democratic countries, the candidates are known at least one year before Election Day while in Bulgaria the only declared bid is the one of Ataka leader, Volen Siderov - a phenomenon which does not allow citizens to make an educated choice, according to the sociologist.

Pavlov sees the fear of attacks and the revelation of compromising facts about the nominees is the main reason for political parties to still keep their nominations secret from the public, adding, however, one unofficial candidate – Bulgaria's first EU Commissioner from the party of former Tsar and Prime Minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NMSP), Meglena Kuneva has already launched a "quiet" election campaign.

The ex EU Commissioner has support from most political formations, including GERB and BSP, the poll shows.

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