site.btaBulgarians are Highly Alienated from Government Institutions, Study Shows

Bulgarians are Highly Alienated from Government Institutions, Study Shows

Sofia, April 27 (BTA) - Bulgarians are highly alienated from their government institutions, shows a study conducted by the Institute of Politics and the Institute for Population and Human Studies with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The alienation level is 4.36 points out of a maximum possible of 5 points.

Such alienation is highest among people of low education and those of secondary education, as well as persons who consider themselves to be among the poorest.

Persons of centrist, centre-left, and far left ideological leanings are particularly alienated from the government institutions: the level in this group is 4.62 points.

The public is overwhelmingly (74 per cent) in favour of a stable coalition government. This is due to an election fatigue and a desire to see that the government is functioning predictably and steadily. The poll shows that over 60 per cent of Bulgarians want the political parties to consolidate into larger units.

The people are practically unaware of the differences which set election systems apart from one another, the pollsters say. At the same time, they are not very keen on following expert opinions before and during an election campaign. Some 76 per cent of respondents in the study admit they are not influenced by any expertise on the matter. Nearly 34 per cent say they are informed by the news media.

The majoritarian election system gets the highest public approval, at 40.7 per cent. It is favoured mainly by centre-rightist voters.

The current electoral system in Bulgaria - a type of proportional representation system in which voter preferences are also taken into account - is the second most preferred system, named by 36.8 per cent of respondents.

The study indicates that the Bulgarian people want to take politics into their own hands by introducing a strong majoritarian element in the voting system and making all referendums binding (43 per cent). They not only insist that referendums must continue to be used as a policy-making tool, but also want them to be more frequent (64 per cent) and centred on strategic questions (62 per cent).

Bulgarians are patriotic and pro-European in equal measure, the study shows. Over 60 per cent of respondents say that being Europeans is important to them.

The study was conducted between April 10 and 21 among 1,200 respondents.