Bulgaria's DPS, Ataka with Biggest Firm Electoral Base

Ultra-nationalist Ataka's leader Volen Siderov (R) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS)'s head Lyutvi Mestan (L) can be count on firm supporters at the European Election. Photo by BGNES

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and ultra-nationalist Ataka are the parties with most solid electoral base for the upcoming European Elections.

A survey by polling agency AFIS has shown that only Ataka and DPS, which is predominantly an ethnic Turkish party, could rely on staunch supporters ahead of the vote scheduled for May 25, Bulgarian TV channel bTV has reported.

Out of potential voters (those saying they will cast a ballot), 86% have already made their mind. The rest are still swinging, with half of them split between two parties and the other half not sure whether to vote.

Like all previous opinion polls displaying conflicting numbers, AFIS's most recent one suggests there is no outright winner and the contest between ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party(BSP) and center-right opposition GERB for "victory" and biggest number of EP seats will be a close call.

The survey shows that, out of a prospective 2.5-2.8 M voter turnout, the two key players will get a combined share of somewhere between 1.5 and 1.7 M. At least 150-160 000 votes will be necessarty to gain a MEP seat.

BSP, GERB and DPS are the most likely to make it into the European Parliament, but Ataka and former journalist Nikolay Barekov's Bulgaria without Censorship, as well as President (2002-2011) Georgi Parvanov's ABV movement (which splintered from the socialists) still hold a potential to pass the 5.88-percent threshold.

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