site.btaSocial Analyst Kolyo Kolev: Voter Turnout Lowest Since Advent of Democracy in Bulgaria

Social Analyst Kolyo Kolev: Voter Turnout Lowest Since Advent of Democracy in Bulgaria

Sofia, November 1 (BTA) - Social analyst Kolyo Kolev said that voter turnout in the 2015 local elections has been the lowest since the advent of democracy in Bulgaria. This suggests that democracy and the traditional political parties are undergoing a crisis and that people are looking for an alternative, he added. He said that the best kept secret is how many people have voted in the elections. According to Kolev, voter turnout figures are false and most likely are less than 50 per cent.

Kolev added that the local elections have rearranged the political jigsaw, with results clearly showing that the Reformist Bloc have the political weight that they had showed in the first round of voting. Kolev said that the Movement for Rights and Freedoms are the third political force but their results give ground for a serious rethink of their political situation.

Social analyst Antoaneta Hristova argued that regardless of the inner tension in the coalition between GERB and the Reformist Bloc, and the fears and conflicts, their strategic interest is to see their term through. The Bulgarian Socialist Party carried out the wrong political campaign and betted on the wrong people, with no active policies. In her words, the Bulgarian Socialist Party is still not exiting the crisis that it had been plunged into.

According to Hristova, there was no election campaign, it was purely technical and
it gave the impression of vote buying.