Socialists Rift Gives Bulgaria's GERB Vote Push – Poll

24 years after the fall of Communism, Bulgarian voters remain divided and bitter about the country's political parties, file photo

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has lost about 20% of its supporters, according to a recent poll.

The poll has been conducted by the Alfa Research Agency between January 18 and 22, and reflects opinions of Bulgarians after former two-term President and former BSP leader, Georgi Parvanov, re-launched its frozen ABV movement.

If European elections were to be held now, BSP would be second by the number of ballots cast, while the opposition centrist Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, is emerging first, which is unprexedented in the last six months.

The support for GERB stands at 17.8%, while the one for BSP is 15%.

ABV's EP ballot, led by respected Bulgarian MEP, Ivaylo Kalfin, is off to a very good start with 7% - half of this support comes from BSP members, while the rest is from the center, the nationalists, or people who have not voted before.

The liberal predominantly ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, keeps its stable 6%, while the recently-launched right-wing Reformist Bloc gets 5.3%, giving both formations a chance of EP seats.

If the vote was to be held now, GERB would have 6 MEPs, BSP – 5, DPS – 3, ABV – 2, and the Reformist Bloc – 1, according to the poll.

The Socialist-endorsed government of Prime Minister, Plamen Oresharski, remains at the same record low level of approval as in December 2013 – 21%, while the Parliament has only 10%.

Oresharski and his predecessor and leader of GERB, Boyko Borisov, register a slight increase in their ratings. Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov enjoys the highest such increase – from 22% to 29%.

The pollsters note unusually high interest in the European elections, not only among the political elite, but also among voters, because these elections are linked to the fate of the government and the leadership of the left-wing in the country.

58% of respondents say people should hit voting polls in mass as this will be the answer of who will rule Bulgaria next.

Support for the far-right extremist nationalist Ataka s steadily declining and if elections were to be held now, Ataka would collect just 2.5% of the vote.

The just-launched party Bulgaria without Censorship of former controversial TV host and director, Nikolay Barekov, is in the same vicinity - 2.6%.

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