European Elections: Bulgarian school-leavers choose parties – abroad
When it comes to the European Parliament elections, Bulgaria’s school-leavers have their priorities – choosing instead of political parties, to party abroad.
This emerged from a report on public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television on May 4, three weeks before Bulgaria’s May 25 European Parliament elections, which said that about 5000 school-leavers would be holding their proms outside the country.
The most preferred destinations were Spain (an EU member state) Greece (ditto) and Turkey (well, perhaps one day).
Many of the school-leavers who were eligible to vote had decided to do so, and then hit the road for the parties of the other kind, going by the report.
Already, the lives of school-leavers had been complicated by the fact that May 24, the day on which Bulgaria celebrates the legacy of Cyril and Methodius and by extension the traditions of Bulgarian education, is the “day of contemplation”, which is meant to be a day on which voters quietly ponder the political future.
Worse, from the party-goers’ point of view, is that election days in Bulgaria by law are subject to an abstemious regime, because the sale of alcohol is banned.
On a sober note, BNT said that travel agents advised school-leavers choosing to celebrate abroad to carefully check what their travel package included, be equally careful in selecting their hotels and “not to abuse alcohol, so as not to spoil the holiday”.
(Photo: Zsuzsanna Kilian/sxc.hu)
