Bulgaria goes to the polls this Sunday for the seventh time in four years with European funds at stake

MADRID 26 Oct. () –

Bulgaria goes to elections this Sunday for the seventh time in four years, with the need to establish a certain stability and thus manage the funds that arrive from the European Union with a view to its accession to the euro, in which once again the right-wing GERB of the former prime Minister Boiko Borisov starts as a favorite.

A favoritism marked by the increasing indifference of a population, which in June remained at a historic low of less than 34 percent participation and which is not expected to vary much on this occasion, just like the results of that time, with three formations at the head.

To the aforementioned GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) – Borisov being the prime minister who has been in office for the longest time -, they are joined by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and We Follow the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB), all of them right-wing and populist.

However, it is not ruled out that this shortlist could be modified by the rise of the pro-Russian Renaissance party, which has been growing in recent events and was barely one point behind PP-DB. In recent months he has been able to promote a law that pursues the rights of the LGBTI community.

Since a series of protests against corruption brought down the coalition government led by GERB in 2020 and the proposals to form an executive that have been coming out of the polls these four years have all been rejected, the involvement of voters has also increased. decline.

In that sense, this Sunday’s elections do not guarantee that the country with the highest rates of poverty and corruption in the European Union will emerge from the stagnation to which it has been relegated by its ruling class, with fear even of electoral fraud through the buying of votes among the Roma and Turkish minorities.

The polls foresee up to seven formations in Parliament and do not rule out an eighth. The parties with the best forecasts hardly exceed 26 percent of the votes in a chamber of 240 seats in which 121 are needed to achieve an absolute majority.