site.btaMedia Review: November 7

The November 5 local elections runoffs dominate heavily the printed, broadcast and electronic media on Tuesday.

LOCAL ELECTIONS RUNOFFS

24 Chasa reports that Socialist candidate for Sofia mayor Vanya Grigorova will appeal the results of the local election in the capital. Within days she will submit "all evidence" of irregularities surrounding the vote. Among the grounds cited for the appeal are irregularities in the functioning of voting machines and a lack of control over the manual application of the tally sheets. 

Trud also covers the story, quoting former e-Governance Deputy Minister Blagovest Kirilov as saying that the voting machines were certified illegally. 

24 Chasa quotes the newly elected Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev as saying that there will be no "assemblage" in the capital. (*Assemblage is a word that is often used for the government of CC-DB and GERB when the speaker wants to underscore its perceived unprincipled nature). During their joint briefing, Democratic Bulgaria co-leader Hristo Ivanov pointed out that due to the lack of majority in the municipal council, "we will all have to learn to negotiate in a good sense". Ivanov argued that it is possible to work with someone without first trusting them and drew an analogy with the governance of the state by Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria and GERB.

Telegraph has an article which stresses on Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria's breakthrough when it comes to borough mayors. The coalition won the local elections in 23 of the 35 boroughs in Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna, with GERB winning second-most with 9 boroughs. 

In its main story, Duma highlights BSP's achievements during the local elections, quoting Socialist leader Korneliya Ninova as saying that her party is the second-largest political force in the country.

Trud underlines GERB's success during the local elections and the party's win in 13 regional capitals. 

Telegraph presents data from Gallup International on demographic profiles from the exit polls in the country's three largest cities - Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. According to the article, young people made a decisive contribution to Terziev's victory in Sofia. Over 80% of his supporters are university graduates, while for his opponent Grigorova this share is about 10% lower. She has more supporters among the elderly. Just over half of women who voted in local elections in the three major cities supported the losing candidates.

Telegraph features an interview with political analyst Tatyana Burudzhieva. She notes that the results from the local elections highlight the dangers of the tendency of people to give up voting. "You currently need very few votes to get municipal councillors," Burudzhieva points out. She adds that this trend leads to municipal councils containing representatives of many political forces, and therefore to difficulties in forming majorities.

In an extensive interview with 24 Chasa, social psychologist Plamen Dimitrov discusses the reasons behind the low voter turnout. He said research shows that about 40% of non-voters are very distressed in their lives and do not care about politics. They need solutions for their economic and mental health problems. "For the last election, about 42% were in this group: they are passively defensive in life - they are anxious, depressed and on the edge of survival. Their participation in the election is in the hope that someone will solve their problems and be supportive. This group of people features the conformists - those who would vote if bribed. But there are also the working poor, where entire families are chronically disengaged from public and political life," he explains. On the other hand, 1/3 of non-voters are people who in many ways show aggressive defensiveness and resemble those who declare publicly that they do not support anyone, Dimitrov added. In this sample are the staunch oppositionists who say that there are no good candidates. Here are both the idealists and the ideological perfectionists who are not satisfied with the party's development, the programmes, the readiness and the political culture of the candidates. The systemic problem in Bulgaria is precisely the low levels of trust - not only in public institutions, in political structures, but also in interpersonal communication and inter-neighbourly relations, Dimitrov concludes.

On bTV's morning show, Ivan Todorov, member of the Board of Directors of Ciela Norma - the company which provides the voting machines for the elections, stated that the problems with machine voting in the runoff were caused by the Central Election Commission (CEC) having ordered the wrong kind of paper. There were blocked machines and those that did not issue receipts. He added that the CEC's leadership had continuously delayed the timelines in preparing the voting machine. "They do it every time and it is done on purpose," Todorov stressed.

STATE AGENCY FOR NATIONAL SECURITY CHAIR

Telegraph quotes President Rumen Radev's comments on the demanded resignation of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) Chair Plamen Tonchev by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov. "The real motives have been known for a long time. We heard them in that recording [of a meeting of the National Council of Continue the Change held online on the evening of May 21, distributed by MP Radostin Vasilev]. They [Continue the Change] aim at controlling the services," Radev argues. The head of State added that the SANS Act clearly states the grounds under which the SANS Chair can be dismissed and among them, according to Radev, is not a lack of trust by the Prime Minister. "They do not trust each other in the assemblage either, but they have clung tightly to each other for the sake of their survival," Radev asserts.

24 Chasa features an article with Denkov's response to Radev's statement. "Let's look at the facts," Denkov urges. "All current heads of state services are appointed by the President through his caretaker governments. So, if we are going to use terms like 'controlling the services' - the only one who can control them today is the President," he points out. Denkov underlines that he has not asked Radev to change the head of any of the services so far, as there has been no reason to do so. But now such a need has come, triggered by the machine voting ban in the first round of local elections and Tonchev's refusal to release his deputy Denyo Denev, who drafted the report that led to the eliminating of the machine voting.

VOTE OF NO-CONFIDENCE

In an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), Defence Minister Todor Tagarev addressed the vote of no-confidence which is expected to be submitted by BSP over the government’s defence policy. “For me and for the cabinet this will be a good opportunity to once again explain publicly to the whole society what is the defence policy we are pursuing and everything we are doing for a more solid defence and more security for Bulgaria and the Bulgarian citizens,” he stated.

ECONOMY

Telegraph has an article on the package of tax laws, adopted by the Council of Ministers at an extraordinary meeting on Monday. The package includes revisions to the VAT Act, Tax and Social Insurance Procedure Code, the Excise Duty and Tax Warehouse Act, the Personal Income Taxes Act and the Corporate Incomes Taxes Act.

Former Finance Minister Lyubomir Datsov and economic analyst Yulian Voynov discussed the tax laws package on Nova Television's morning show. "There is not a single tax change that is substantial, that serves the Budget, that generates economic growth and more revenue," Datsov said. These changes will not bring money into the treasury, but will create problems for businesses, he added. Voynov noted that some of the amendments make sense, such as raising property tax assessments, raising the taxable income maximum. "We have a pro-inflationary model of development of the Bulgarian economy that needs to be changed. Some of the measures of the Finance Ministry will lead to regularization," he underlined.

The Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported that Bulgaria has raised external debt of just over EUR 2 billion with two tranche bonds on foreign markets. "The debt is set in the State Budget, it will mainly be used for refinancing," BNT quoted Finance Minister Assen Vassilev as saying.

BNR reported that next year pensions will be increased by 11%. “The policy that we have maintained as the Ministry of Finance since 2021 is for a permanent increase in pensions. This year pensions were increased by 12%. The final estimates for next year are still to be made, but it looks to be around 11%,” BNR cited Finance Minister Vassilev.

HEALTH

Trud quotes Eurostat data, according to which Bulgarians live the shortest among the rest of the citizens of the European countries. The situation is worst in Northeast Bulgaria. There, the average life expectancy for men is only 66.1 years and for women - 74 years. The overall life expectancy in EU countries is 80.1 years. Life expectancy for women in the EU is 82.9 years, which is 5.7 years longer than for men - 77.2 years. At the bottom of the life expectancy rankings in European countries are three other regions from Bulgaria - Northcentral, Southeast and Northeast. They are followed by one region each in Latvia and Hungary and two in Romania. Bulgaria's Southwest and Southcentral are ranked right after them.

SPORT

24 Chasa features an article on the change of the hosting stadium for the Bulgaria - Hungary football match on November 16. "For the first time in its 100-year history, the national team will play behind closed doors of its own accord", the daily writes. This comes after the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) alerted UEFA that unrest was brewing after it was announced that a national protest by football fans in Bulgaria against BFU President Borislav Mihaylov's 18-year rule would be held at the match. The match was due to take place in Sofia, but after the alert UEFA moved it to the Hristo Botev Stadium in Plovdiv. Fans reacted and also changed plans for the protest, with its location shifted to Plovdiv. "In a very short time the BFU managed to unite all fans against itself, especially after the shocking results of the national team and the brazen behaviour of some leaders of the Union", the newspaper adds. The fans’ demands are for Mihaylov’s immediate resignation and the appointment of a new BFU Congress.