site.btaGallup Opinion Poll: GERB-UDF First with 21.4% of Votes, Continue the Change Second with 15.2% If Elections Held Today

Sofia, September 29 (BTA) - If the snap parliamentary elections were held today, GERB-UDF would get 21.4 per cent of the votes, followed by Continue the Change with 15.2 per cent and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) with 13.4 per cent, shows a Gallup opinion poll conducted among 2,000 adult Bulgarians through phone interviews between September 21 and 26. Also to make it in the next parliament are There Is Such a People (TISP) with 12.3 per cent, Democratic Bulgaria with 12.1 per cent, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) with 11.4 per cent, and Rise Up BG! Here We Come! with 4.1 per cent of the votes.

Vazrazhdane and VMRO would fall short of the 4 per cent threshold for entry in parliament, with 3.3 per cent and 2.2 per cent of the votes, respectively.

The percentage of votes is based on the number of respondents who said they will vote in the November 14 elections, or 50.6 of all respondents, the polling agency specifies. Another 22.6 per cent said they will probably vote, which speaks of a growing interest in the elections and potentially a higher voter turnout compared to the July 11 snap parliamentary elections.

The data show a 'package' of formations after GERB-UDF, part of which are competing for second place, the analysts comment. The opinion poll reveals the impact of the recent news of former caretaker ministers Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev establishing a new formation, Continue the Change (CC): for now, this brings challenges before the support for the familiar parties and creates very dynamic prospects before CC. Still, the data paint just a temporary picture and the remaining time until the elections will show what the trends are, the pollsters note.

According to the analysts, CC appears to be addressing mostly those who would otherwise vote for Democratic Bulgaria as well as quite a few of TISP's supporters. Even firm supporters of the BSP and GERB are showing interest in the new formation. DD/DS