Bulgaria: Society is beginning to accept the coalition government – pollster
The Nikolai Denkov Cabinet formed in June has a 20 per cent approval rating, according to the findings of a poll by the Market Links agency, the results of which were released on August 25.
While this was not high for any government, on the other hand, the circumstances under which the government was formed should be taken into account, “namely, extremely high political tension,” the agency’s Dobromit Zhivkov told bTV.
“The number of people who say that the country is not going the right way is decreasing, and it is decreasing significantly,” Zhivkov said.
“That is, we are already reaching some such, conditionally speaking, levels of reassurance of our society,” he said.
Society was beginning to accept the governing coalition, according to Zhikov.
“The question is what will happen in the local elections. Otherwise, in general, the tension seems to be decreasing, because it can be seen that results are beginning to be achieved, albeit in separate areas.”
The disapproval rating of the government is 52 per cent and 28 per cent of those polled took a neutral view.
Confidence in the country’s institutions was increasing slightly, and the National Assembly now had a higher approval rating, of 11 per cent, he said.
“After all, Parliament is working and has the prospect of continuing to work. Bulgarians are beginning to see how the institutions are moving and performing their functions, although there are still serious deficits in many areas,” Zhivkov said.
The poll results showed Parliament’s disapproval rating as 68 per cent, with 21 per cent taking a neutral view.
President Roumen Radev had an approval rating of 41 per cent and a disapproval rating of 38 per cent, largely unchanged since the previous poll.
Zhivkov said that Radev had gained among some but lost among others. “He provokes some kind of polarisation, which seems to be starting to have a much more serious effect.”
The ratings of Prime Minister Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabriel were similar.
Denkov had an approval rating of 23 per cent and a disapproval rating of 51 per cent, while Gabriel had an approval rating of 25 per cent and a disapproval rating of 28 per cent.
Support for political coalitions and parties was little changed, with five over the four per cent threshold for a share of seats in the National Assembly.
Among those who would vote, GERB-UDF had 22.8 per cent, We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria 18.9 per cent, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms 13.1 per cent, Vuzrazhdane 11.1 per cent and the Bulgarian Socialist Party 7.2 per ent.
The results are from a national survey, financed and implemented jointly by bTV and Market Links, conducted among 1012 people over 18 years of age in the country in the period August 11 – 18 2023 using the methods of direct personal interview and online polling.
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