On Sunday, Bulgarians will go to the polls in the next three months.
The first vote was called after the April 4 vote in favor of the hanged parliament, in which the GERB ruling party of former Prime Minister Conservative Boyko Borisov failed to get enough support to appoint a new prime minister.
In May, Borisov, who had been prime minister for three years since 2009, was due to resign and hand over power to a functioning government.
Since then, a number of political controversies have rocked the country of seven million people, with the prime minister wanting to explain what he says are fraudulent schemes by government officials linked to GERB.
Pre-election results show that GERB is on the verge of being formed by There Are People, a party that was second in the April vote and led by a number of negotiator Slavi Trifonov.
The right parties that allied with GERB in the previous government will not exceed 4% of their entry into parliament.
Al Jazeera observers spoke in the July 11 election, and Borisov’s party may not be able to get enough votes to form a coalition, which could overthrow the 10-year-old former Prime Minister.
Some say this could signal the end of his political career.
‘Promoting election campaign’
Since taking office on May 12, the interim government has been releasing public information on corruption, bribery, and violations of certain laws.
The commission initiated a thorough investigation into public finances, an in-depth analysis of infrastructure, investigations into state hospital misconduct, police and customs officials across the country, and compiled reports of fraudulent citizens.
Business attempts against the previous government have also been announced, with one businessman claiming before a parliamentary committee that Borisov had threatened him.
In another case, Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov said a businessman told him that Borisov was being killed and that his body was being fed by his family.
The former prime minister has denied the allegations as politically motivated, saying he could be arrested soon.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m on the streets,” Borisov told a GERB youth conference in May. “What is happening here as a government is not acceptable at all.”
He also raised doubts about the use of voting machines in Sunday’s election, accusing opposition parties of “disrupting” them.
According to Anna Krasteva, a professor of political science at New Bulgarian University, Borisov’s campaign rhetoric appears to be over.
“He just walks in detail and it’s funny. He’s going to sing the election,” he told Al Jazeera. “This is the beginning of the end for Borisov. In the eyes of the Bulgarian people, he represents corruption.”
Penalties of the Magnitsky Act
However, according to Petar Cholakov, an assistant professor of sociology at the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgaria Academy of Sciences, it is too early to announce the end of Borisov and his party.
“Things are in full swing … If the parties that claim the protests will not form a government after the elections, this could help GERB,” he said, referring to the three parties that supported the anti-GERB protests in the summer of 2020 – There are such people, Democratic Bulgaria, and Stand! Thieves out !.
And despite being accused of fraud, some of Borisov’s foreign organizations are still holding him hostage.
“I follow what is happening in Bulgaria and, Boyko, you have a lot of work to do. EPP helps you, we are behind you. Let’s trust it, ”said Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament.
On July 3, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Borisov in Istanbul and praised the migration of his “real friend and brother”.
But supervisors of U.S. President Joe Biden appear to be sending a different signal.
When the interim government took power in May, US Hero Hero Mustafa met with Prime Minister Stefan Yanev and a number of his ministers – and made brief visits to the National Revenue Agency.
Then, on June 2, Biden’s administration announced sanctions under the Magnitsky Act against a number of Bulgarian politicians and businesses, including former MP Delyan Peevski from the Movement for Rights and Liberties (MRL).
According to some, Borisov’s close contacts with legitimate journalists.
Cholakov said Peevski’s alleged move to Bulgarian passports and links to Russian projects could be seen as Washington’s as a threat to the US.
But the instructions are also a sign that does not agree with this.
“The United States has expressed its displeasure with this type of government [of GERB-MLR], ”He said.
The third choice
GERB and There Are All such People voting for about 20%.
The two parties can enter into an alliance against GERB – Democratic Bulgaria and Stand! Thieves! – are about 12% and 5%, respectively.
The Bulgarian Socialist Party is at 15 percent and the MRL is 11%.
But according to political adviser Vesislava Tancheva, there may be some surprises due to voting on the machine, which reduces vote-buying and may offend a few other non-Bulgarian readers.
This could affect the outcome of MRL, in particular, since the party is supported by a minority.
Some of GERB’s largest business partners are also able to withdraw their support, reducing the so-called “controlled vote”, while many employers advise employees to vote for another party of their choice.
This may not bring enough votes to the alliance against GERB, however.
“It simply came to our notice then that we could go to the polls this year. And it is possible that all parties, with the exception of GERB, are negotiating internally, “Tancheva said.
In his view, a third option could force the GERB to force another sub-government to investigate the situation and move forward with a change in the law, which could lead to more cases of corruption.
