Bulgaria: voters return to the polls, in the midst of the outbreak of Covid-19
Bulgaria is voting for the third time in seven months, as it is hit by a new wave of particularly violent Covid-19.
AP - Giannis Papanikos
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Bulgarians are being called to the polls this Sunday, November 14 for the first round of the presidential election and for legislative elections.
The third in seven months.
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The two previous elections, in April and July 2021, had not made it possible to form a coalition. Bulgarians are therefore returning to the polls for the third time in seven months, as the country is hit hard by a fourth wave of Covid-19. The number of patients is approaching 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while only 22% of the population is vaccinated. The country is the one that deplores
the highest number of deaths
in the world in relation to the population after Peru,
If the debates of the electoral campaign focused mainly on the issue of corruption, politicians did not hesitate to accuse each other of mismanaging the health crisis. “
I heard the president say that our government was guilty of stopping the AstraZeneca vaccines. But all European countries have banned them. I then toured Europe and brought back 3 million vaccines. And today, what do we do? We vaccinate the population with expired vaccines
”, accused the former Prime Minister Boïko Borissov, in power for more than a decade.
Borisov is not the only one to criticize the interim government, notes our correspondent in Sofia,
Damian Vodenicharov
.
After
the introduction of the health pass
in October, both the left and the far right quickly sided with the 78% of unvaccinated voters.
“
The Minister of Health set the country on fire and blood in 24 hours.
He announced the health pass in the evening and everyone had to get used to it the next morning,
denounced the president of the PS, Kornélia Ninova.
I went to a hospital, and saw the doctors standing outside because they didn't have a pass and the patients inside without the doctors.
"
An open ballot
If the conservative party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, 62, is expected to take the lead in these legislative elections with some 24% of the vote according to the polls, it will be difficult to govern for lack of a partner. The field therefore remains open for other training courses, in particular for two newcomers to these legislative elections: Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev, entrepreneurs in their forties who have graduated from Harvard.
Popular ministers of the interim government, they have decided to found their own movement, Let's Continue the Change, shaking up the race. Their motto: "zero corruption". Estimates place them neck and neck with the Socialists, with 16% of the vote. The two men said they were ready to negotiate with the other parties to form a coalition and put an end to this political crisis unprecedented since the end of the communist regime.
Failure to form a coalition would amount to political suicide, warns Anna Krasteva, professor of political sociology at the New Bulgarian University.
"
Bulgarians are demanding change and expect the parties to form a coalition in order to be able to govern,
" she analyzes.
"
If the political vacuum continues, it is the extremist parties who will come to fill it
."
Along with the legislative elections, the Bulgarians also elect their president on Sunday.
Roumen Radev, candidate for his succession, appears favorite even if he will no doubt have to wait for the second round scheduled for November 21 to win against the candidate of Gerb, the rector of the University of Sofia Anastas Gerdjikov.
A novice in politics when he won in 2016 with the support of the Socialists, this former fighter pilot and head of the armed forces was able to seduce with his sharp criticism of corrupt practices.
With his fist raised, in the summer of 2020 Mr. Radev sided with the anti-Borissov demonstrators, and his victory would encourage the formation of a broad front against the ousted Prime Minister.
But if such a government emerges, analysts predict it will have a short life, because of Gerb's strong positions in local power and the differences between the "parties of change".
(
And with
AFP)
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