site.btaMarket LINKS: Five Bulgarian Parties Would Win Seats in European Parliament If Elections Were Held Today

The Market LINKS research company found in a survey that if European elections were held today, three political forces would increase their share of the votes: Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), Vazrazhdane and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). Five of the parliamentary forces - GERB-UDF, CC-DB, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Vazrazhdane and BSP - are very likely to win seats in the European Parliament.

In 2019, about 33% of Bulgarians voted in the European elections. Now fewer than 2 million - about 1.8 or 1.9 million - are expected to vote, sociologist Dobromir Zhivkov told bTV on Friday.

The survey was financed by bTV and Market LINKS and was conducted among 1,058 people aged 18 or over, between February 24 and March 3, through direct interviews and an online poll.

The share of hesitant voters in the June elections is likely to be around 14-15%. Zhivkov said, however, that they cannot dramatically change the results. In his view, the European elections more or less mirror the distribution of the seats in the national Parliament.

Vazrazhdane has positioned itself as the only openly Eurosceptic nationalist force, which has increased its weight in the European elections, Zhivkov said.

What are the voters' priorities?

Healthcare 21%;
Fight against corruption 21%;
Education 20%;
Social assistance 12%;
Judicial reform 10%;
Full accession to Schengen 7%;
Increasing the Armed Forces' defence capabilities 4%;
Road and rail infrastructure development 3%;
Adoption of the euro 2%.

Zhivkov said that although the fight against corruption ranks high among the priorities, half of respondents do not link it to the need to complete the judicial reform.

The survey did not register a significant change in approval of the National Assembly and the government. Zhivkov said: "Approval of the government has declined, probably due to political tensions and exchanges of recriminations. It is important to note the low level of approval for the National Assembly, and now things are getting even worse."

"A huge part of society is not very positive about the government's rotation because the rows in the ruling coalition suggest there could be another election at any moment," the sociologist said.