site.btaExacta Poll: Six Parties Certain to Enter Parliament, GERB Leads Polls

Sofia, October 14 (BTA) - Six parties are certain to enter the next legislature, according to a national self-funded survey by Exacta Research, conducted between October 6 and 12 among 1,025 respondents.

GERB leads the polls with 23.5 of the vote and has been at the top in several consecutive Exacta polls. It is followed by Continue the Change (15.5 per cent), There Is Such a People (15.2 per cent) and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (15.2 per cent) with a 0.5 per cent difference between them. According to analysts, the party which is recognized by the voters as GERB's main rival may receive an additional electoral bonus within the election campaign. Democratic Bulgaria will garner 10.2 per cent and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms 9.4 per cent.

Three of the smaller parties will seek to improve their result by the end of the campaign: Rise Up BG! Here We Come! (2.6 per cent), VMRO (2.5 per cent) and Vazrazhdane (1.9 per cent).

As a new player on the political stage, Continue the Change is recognized by a substantial portion by Bulgarians as the face of change. The poll shows that Continue the Change is the party which attracts the largest number of voters who did not vote in the July elections.

One in five Bulgarians is disappointed with the party they voted for on July 11. The highest levels of disappointment are observed among those aged 40-50 and residents of larger cities.

Fifty-two per cent of respondents have decided firmly to vote in the upcoming presidential elections and some 49 of respondents will vote in the parliamentary elections.

People aged over 30, university graduates, residents of regional centres and of villages are predominant among firm voters in the parliamentary elections. Over 90 per cent of the supporters of GERB, BSP, Movement for Rights and Freedoms and Rise Up BG! are mobilized for the vote. Nearly 80 per cent of the supporters of TISP and Continue the Change are categorical that they will vote in the parliamentary elections as well as two-thirds of Democratic Bulgaria voters.

Asked about any concerns related to the vote, 13.4 per cent of Bulgarians say that they are unsure whether they will cope with machine voting and 20 per cent are afraid of being infected with COVID-19 at polling stations. Concerns about machine voting are more common among people aged over 60 (27 per cent) and low-educated people from small towns and villages. One third of the voters of the BSP and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms are anxious about machine voting.