site.btaIf Elections Were Held Today, 5+1 Entities Would Make it into Parliament - Gallup Int'l Poll

If Elections Were Held Today, 5+1 Entities Would Make it into Parliament - Gallup Int'l Poll

Sofia, January 30 (BTA) - If parliamentary elections were held today, five plus one entities would win seats, Gallup International found in a flash telephone survey conducted among 816 people across Bulgaria on January 27 and 29. It was financed by the polling agency.

If the elections were held today, six formations could clear the 4 per cent barrier to Parliament. The difference between the results of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which can rely on 28.7 per cent of people who are certain to vote, and GERB's 27.6 per cent is about several tens of thousands of votes, which makes it difficult to name the winner, the agency commented.

Seats will also be allocated to the United Patriots, who will win 11.9 per cent of the votes of people who are certain to vote, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms with 8.2 per cent, and Vesselin Mareshki's party with 7.7 per cent. Depending on its election campaign, the Reformist Bloc also stands a chance to win seats, based on the support of 4.3 per cent of respondents. That is why the sociologists term the next Parliament's configuration "5+1".

The Yes Bulgaria party headed by former justice minister Hristo Ivanov would poll 2 per cent, ABV 1.9 per cent, and the new formation around the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria 1.6 per cent. It remains to be seen what public image those parties will project or what coalitions they will form.

The Bulgarian Democratic Centre (a successor to the LIDER party) and DOST can expect to poll about 1.5 per cent of all votes as usual.

Movement 21, the Greens and the People's Voice party score around or below 1 per cent, but have a real presence.

The polling agency used a closed-ended question. Seventy-nine per cent of respondents said they would vote, which translates into some 4.3 million people, about 63 per cent of those registered on the electoral rolls. The percentages are based only on people who say they will vote.

These attitudes cannot serve as a basis for an election forecast. The distribution of votes does not take into account 1.9 per cent of respondents who would opt for "none of the above".

The approval ratings mirror the rise of the biggest winners in the presidential elections: President Rumen Radev (41.7 per cent), IMRO leader Krassimir Karakachanov (26.1 per cent, double last year's figure), BSP leader Kornelia Ninova (24.9 per cent) and Vesselin Mareshki (18.4 per cent). GERB's loss in the presidential elections has resulted in a decrease in former prime minister Boyko Borissov's approval rating, from about one third to about a quarter of all respondents.