Bulgaria Stands Divided in Approval of Ruling GERB - Poll
Domestic | January 16, 2012, Monday // 15:41| views
Among the members of the Bulgarian cabinet, Foreign Affairs Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, enjoys the highest approval rating (39%), according to a recent poll. Photo by BGNES
Bulgarians remain divided in their approval or disapproval of the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, according to a freshly released poll of the Sova Harris agency.
5% of the people in voting age describe GERB's policies as completely successful, 33% - as overall successful, despite some failures, or a total of 38% are satisfied with GERB's rule.
According to the January poll, 30% of those in voting age say the cabinet has some successes, but the rule is overall unsuccessful, while 19% see it as completely unsuccessful, or a total of 40% are dissatisfied with GERB.
The poll was conducted between January 3 and 10, and involved 1 000 Bulgarian citizens in voting age.
68% of the polled disapprove of the cabinet's retirement reform providing for a gradual increase of retirement age, which is going up by one year for both males and females in 2012. Those disapproving come from all age groups.
About 38% disapprove of the reform at the State-owned and heavily indebted railways BDZ Holding, which includes mass layoffs, cancelation of a number of trains, and increased fares – of those disapproving – 37% are State servants, 27% work for the private sector, 27% have college degrees, and every second is a supporter or follower of the opposition, left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP. 23% approve of the BDZ reform – mainly people from the private business and supporters of GERB.
Those who support the cabinet see GERB's actions as decisive though unpopular and believe reforms are a must.
Among the members of the cabinet, Foreign Affairs Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, enjoys the highest approval rating (39%) or about 2/5 of the polled.
Mladenov is closely followed by Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov with 35%.
The Ministers, rated as "doing a good job on average," are: Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov (28%), Culture Minister, Vezhdi Rashidov (27%), Education Minister, Sergey Ignatov (26%), Sports Minister, Svilen Neykov (26%), Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov (26%), and Defense Minister, Anyu Angelov with 24%.
The efforts of Deputy PM and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, for fiscal discipline and stability are deemed successful by 20% of the respondents, compared to 18% one year ago, in December 2010, again in a Sova Harris poll.
The Minister of Social Policy and Labor, Totyu Mladenov, also has 20% approval. Part of those polled sees the unpopular reforms he must implement as unavoidable and gives him a confidence vote there.
Back