Bulgaria: Changing the National Holiday from March 3 to May 24 has almost No Support

Support in principle for legal reforms, but no particular familiarity, reluctance to reduce the powers of presidents, almost no support for changing the national holiday or for tolerating dual citizenship in power - this is what the latest Gallup International Balkan study in Bulgaria points to.

The first comprehensive published survey of public opinion on proposed constitutional changes predictably shows low familiarity with a significant portion of the ideas being discussed, Gallup sociologists said in a summary of the survey's findings.

However, several public instincts stand out, Gallup noted: headwinds for judicial changes, opposition to ideas to reduce presidential prerogatives, and a lack of understanding regarding changing the national holiday or regarding ideas such as affirming the possibility of dual citizenship in passive suffrage.

At this stage, the data is more like hypotheses, because there seems to be a lack of detailed discussion and familiarity, and we are in the summer period, which does not imply high levels of interest in politics, notes Gallup.

Impressive is the higher level of conviction when it comes to changes related to citizen empowerment or judicial reforms, and higher levels of hesitation and denial when it comes to reducing presidential powers.

It is likely that the current popularity of the president has an impact, and it should also be taken into account that the topics related to judicial reform have been pushed for years against the background of already low levels of trust in the judicial system.

The popular thesis to change the national holiday is facing serious resistance. Ideas for more toleration of dual citizenship in political institutions are apparently also met with instinctive fear.

For example, 61.3% agree and 12.2% disagree that it is good that everyone has the right to submit an individual constitutional complaint, i.e. that every Bulgarian citizen can apply to the Constitutional Court.

As many as 49.7% do not show any instinct about whether it is good for the Supreme Judicial Council to be divided into two – a judicial council and a prosecutorial council. 35.5% are at this stage are "in favor", 14.8% are currently "against".

The idea that people with dual citizenship have the right to become ministers and deputies in Bulgaria meets a clear intuitive criticism: 65% do not agree with such a prospect, and 17.5% agree. The rest cannot answer.

29% are "in favor" of reducing the powers of presidents in Bulgaria when forming caretaker governments, but 44.3% are "against". The rest cannot form an opinion.

This public instinct is also confirmed in the answer to the question about the powers of the presidents in relation to the judiciary: 38.5% are negatively disposed to the idea of their reduction, against 34.4% positively disposed, and the rest cannot form a clear opinion.

According to this indicator, clear public positions are practically absent - confusion and rather reluctance is evident. However, the instinct regarding the chief prosecutors in our country is clear: 56.2% accept a general reduction of their powers, and 17.4% are against it. The others hesitate.

The national holiday issue was also experimentally tested. It would be good to hear the different motives on the subject and for other research institutes to show their interpretations of the subject, including outside the summer season. But at first reading, one does not see a serious degree of contradiction in the mass consciousness between March 3 and May 24, and the very change of the national holiday meets almost no support, notes Gallup.

The introductory, as general as possible, abstract and at the same time personal, question which of the two holidays is more liked shows the following picture: 33% name the third of March, and 10.7% name the twenty-fourth of May. 48% are in the "middle" option of liking them equally, but there are also 2.4% who don't like either holiday.

The rest cannot answer. As can be expected, among the large electorates there are certain variations between those of DPS and "Democratic Bulgaria", but in general the structure of opinions does not show dramatic differences by electorate.

The latter is also proven in the direct question of the type "we leave or change the date and with which other". 69.3% accept to keep March 3, and a total of 14% are distributed among various other options among public holidays related to national history: 9.6% want to change to May 24, 3% to September 6, and 1.4 % – with September 22. The rest cannot answer.

Yesterday, President Rumen Radev announced a movement in support of March 3rd.

The data is part of Gallup International Balkan's monthly independent research program. The study was conducted between August 3 and 11, 2023 among 807 people using the face-to-face tablet method.

The sample is representative of the adult population of the country. The maximum standard deviation is ±3.5% for the 50 percent shares.

1% of the entire sample is equal to about 54 thousand people.

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