Poll shows Bulgarians’ low level of confidence in electoral process
More than 35 per cent of Bulgarians favour the complete annulment of the October 27 early parliamentary elections, according to a poll funded and carried out jointly by bTV and the Market Links agency, the results of which were released on November 21.
Market Links’s Dobromir Zhivkov told bTV: “This is a serious problem for Bulgarian society. More than 35 per cent are ready to give up voting because (the electoral process) is not fair enough”.
The results of the poll come against the background of a number of parties and coalitions having lodged court applications for the partial or total annulment of the results of the October early elections, which were the seventh time in just more than three years that Bulgarians have elected a legislature.
Regarding the assessment of the fairness of the elections, 26 per cent of respondents indicated that they were “extremely unfair”, and 32 per cent “rather unfair”.
Only five per cent believed in the fairness of the conduct of the elections.
“This is a result of the so-called restart that society receives after each election and is always characterized by a slightly increased credit of trust in the main institutions in the country,” Zhivkov said.
More than 30 per cent of Bulgarians decided who they would vote for in the last week before the vote.
This confirms the hypothesis of alienation of citizens from political life, Zhivkov said.
The poll found that 15 per cent of those eligible to vote made a decision who they would support three to seven days before the election, and 16 per cent in the last one to two days.
Sixty-nine per cent decided one to three weeks before the vote.
The poll found not particularly high trust in the institutions, in response to the conduct of the elections.
The Interior Ministry has an approval rating of 12 per cent, the Central Electoral Commission nine per cent, the regional and sectional electoral commissions eight per cent and the caretaker government eight per cent.
The poll, funded and implemented jointly by bTV and Market Links, was done among 1017 people over 18 in Bulgaria from November 12 to 19 2024, using the methods of direct personal interviews and an online survey.
(Archive photo: government.bg)
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