Galery

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The Greek media are closely following the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria and the result of the vote of its voters. "Borisov wins but he will not compose a separate office" is the title of the article in the online edition of To Vima newspaper. Its editors are constantly renewing the percentage rates of the parties, commenting that the rate of 30.7% achieved by the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party is far from the 43% required for a parliamentary majority.

The edition also states that the former ruling party is assuring that it will be able to form a cabinet and even mentions the Attack party, with its rate of 7.4%, as a possible coalition partner of GERB.

To Vima recalls that the elections were announced after massive protests throughout Bulgaria a few months ago. "In any case, during the election campaign, the parties indulged more in mutual attacks than in presenting political proposals. This is not the most ideal situation for the formation of coalitions between the parties." The article ends concluding that GERB’s precedence indicates the failure of the opposition to convince the voters that it is a reliable alternative.

The centre-right GERB party wins the election after it was preferred by 31.4% of Bulgarian voters as shown by the first official results, writes the online edition of To Proto Tema newspaper. The report also explains that the other three parties that have won seats in the 240-seat parliament are the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the Movement for Freedom and Rights (MFR) and the Attack party.

An analysis of the media states that the salaries and pensions in Bulgaria were "frozen" over the past four years. "The national discontent turned into mass protests across the country. At least five Bulgarians set fire to themselves to express their dissatisfaction with the "vicious circle" of unemployment and social marginalization. As a result, the government had resigned in February and the subsequent election campaign was marked by accusations and scandals that are typical for Bulgaria," reads the publication.

The article also describes the scandal connected with the illegal wiretapping of leading Bulgarian politicians, businessmen and journalists as the "Bulgarian Watergate". The newspaper informs its readers about the resignation of Prosecutor General Nikolay Kokinov and that former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov have received subpoenas to testify in the case. It presents in detail the case of the 350,000 ballot papers found in the town of Kostinbrod as well.

"If the first party with the highest number of votes obtained fails to form a government, the mandate will be given to the BSP. The socialists have been claiming for some time that they are able to form a coalition government headed by former Finance Minister Oresharski to tackle the crisis in Bulgaria," adds Ethnos newspaper. The author of the article writes that the elections took place in the presence of allegations of electoral fraud and predicts that Bulgaria is moving towards a new political impasse only three months after the resignation of the previous cabinet.

The online edition of Imerisia refers to political analysts and warns that the tension in Bulgaria is expected to escalate again after the massive protests in February that had led to the resignation of the government of GERB.

"A total of nine parties and coalitions failed to cross the 1% threshold as a result of which they will receive state funding to the amount of 12 Lev (approximately 6 euro) per vote received. Bulgarian analysts define the decree of the election law as "unacceptable and outrageous" because under this law, the state funding of the political parties in the poorest country in Europe is 7-8 times higher than in countries like Germany."