Approval ratings of Bulgaria’s courts, prosecution plummet – poll
The approval ratings of several of Bulgaria’s institutions, including the country’s courts, prosecution office and Parliament all have plummeted in recent months – practically halving, and that off a low base.
This emerges from the results of a poll by the Exacta research agency, done in February 2016 among a sample of 1000 Bulgarians in various cities and towns.
In April 2015, the approval rating of the judiciary was 14.4 per cent, falling to 7.4 per cent in February 2016. Over the same period of time, the approval rating of the prosecution fell from 15.2 per cent to 7.4 per cent.
The approval rating of Prosecutor-General Sotir Tsatsarov fell from 21.6 per cent in April 2015 to 14 per cent in February 2016.
Bulgaria’s Parliament had an approval rating of 22.1 per cent in April 2015. In February 2016, it was 12.8 per cent.
The approval rating of the government headed by Prime Minister Boiko Borissov slid from 32.1 per cent to 28.1 per cent. Borissov’s personal approval rating, however, rose from 43 per cent in April 2015 to 45 per cent in February 2016.
Among other institutions, the approval rating of Bulgaria’s military decreased from 34.5 per cent in April 2015 to 28.4 per cent in February. Approval of the police decreased from 34.5 per cent to 31.5 per cent.
Bulgarian head of state President Rossen Plevneliev saw his approval rating drop from 35.5 per cent in April 2015 to 31.3 per cent in February 2016. Among the top 10 politicians’ approval ratings in February, Plevneliev ranked ninth.
The political figure in Bulgaria with the highest approval rating in February 2016 was Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova, 62 per cent.
Among the top 10, Fandukova was followed by European Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva (55 per cent), Prime Minister Borissov (45 per cent), Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova (44 per cent), Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev (36 per cent), Deputy Prime Minister Ivailo Kalfin (35 per cent), Culture Minister Veshdi Rashidov (32 per cent), Health Minister Petar Moskov (32 per cent), President Plevneliev (31 per cent) and Tatyana Doncheva, leader of Movement 21, a party not represented in Parliament (31 per cent).
According to Exacta, were elections to have been held at the time of the poll, Borissov’s centre-right GERB party would get 24.5 per cent of the vote.
The opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party would get 12 per cent, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms six per cent, centre-right coalition the Reformist Bloc 5.5 per cent and the nationalist Patriotic Front 4.5 per cent. The Reformist Bloc and the Patriotic Front are part of the current coalition government agreement.
Parties currently in Parliament but shown in the Exacta poll as below the four per cent threshold for election are Volen Siderov’s Ataka (2.9 per cent) and Georgi Purvanov’s socialist breakaway ABC (2.5 per cent).
(Image: glentamara)
