Three polls show GERB leading in support ahead of May 12 election
Three opinion polls in the past day show Boiko Borissov’s party GERB having the largest share of support just more than three weeks ahead of the May 12 2013 national parliamentary elections.
GERB had a 6.4 per cent lead over Sergei Stanishev’s Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) with 23.9 per cent for Borissov’s party and 17.5 per cent for the socialists, the National Centre for the Study of Public Opinion said on April 19.
GERB was down from 24.4 per cent in March while support for the BSP was steady, although both parties showed declines in support over the past four months.
The poll showed support for the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) at 6.2 per cent and Volen Siderov’s ultra-nationalists Ataka at 5.2 per cent.
Like several other recent polls, Meglena Kouneva’s Bulgarian for Citizens was seen as having a chance of seats in the 42nd National Assembly, with a current 3.1 per cent support.
Voter turnout, should the election be held immediately, was project at 55 per cent.
On April 19, the AFIS agency said that GERB had 24 per cent, the BSP 18.9 per cent, Ataka 5.4 per cent, the MRF five per cent and Kouneva’s party 3.1 per cent.
On April 18, polling agency Alpha Research said that GERB had 22.5 per cent, a slight gain month-on-month and the BSP at 16.9 per cent, a slight loss.
The Alpha Research poll found Ataka having shed some support, down to 4.9 per cent, against a background of Siderov’s party having been resuscitated in public support at the time of the nationwide protests. Most polls lately have Ataka and the MRF duelling over similar percentages, with Alpha Research showing the MRF at 4.8 per cent.
Kouneva’s party, according to Alpha Research, had lost a per cent, to 2.9 per cent.
Another poll in recent days, by BBSS Gallup, projected on the basis of voters highly likely to go to vote on May 12 that GERB and the BSP were running neck-and-neck.
(Photo: Rama)
