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Bulgarians Voting Yet Again Amid Backdrop of War In Ukraine [1]
["Rfe Rl'S Bulgarian Service"]
Date: 2022-10
Bulgarians are voting in a general election, the fourth in the past 18 months, amid expectations of another fractured parliament and difficult talks to forge a ruling coalition after the balloting.
The Southeast European country of nearly 7 million people has been plagued by political gridlock since 2020, when it was rocked by nationwide protests as public anger over years of corruption boiled over.
Much of the ire was directed at longtime leader Boyko Borisov and his center-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party.
The latest government, led by Kiril Petkov, collapsed in June after just six months when one of its coalition partners quit. Petkov, who heads the pro-reform We Continue the Change (PP) party, has struggled to deliver on his pledge to stamp out corruption.
He has also backed Ukraine in its fight against Russia in a country traditionally friendly toward Moscow and accuses the Kremlin of helping orchestrate the collapse of his government, which refused to pay for gas in rubles as demanded by Russia.
Public opinion polls ahead of voting day showed GERB at around 25-26 percent support, well ahead of PP, which was at about 16.5 percent.
After casting his vote, Borisov told reporters that Bulgaria needs to clearly position itself on Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.
"With this, aggression, with this war with a clear aggressor in the face of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin -- [I have] nothing against the Russian people -- with this farce with the referendums, Bulgaria must be very clear, categorical, and precise about its place in the European Union and NATO," he said, adding that Bulgaria's entry into the eurozone should be the first and most important task.
Petkov rejected recent polls as questionable and voiced confidence that the vote will yield positive results for his party.
"After this election, we will make a coalition with the Bulgarian people," Petkov told reporters after casting his ballot.
"Today's election is very important. The choice is between going back to the years of transition or to break with this period once and for all and heading to a new prosperous and reformed Bulgaria. I believe that all Bulgarians today will make the choice for Bulgaria to move forward," Petkov said.
As many as eight parties may break the 4 percent threshold needed to gain entrance to parliament and take seats in the 240-member legislature.
One of them, the far-right Revival party which has been polling at around 11 percent to 13 percent, has taken advantage of a wave of populism sweeping Europe -- as witnessed by recent gains by far-right parties in Italy and Sweden -- spurred by economic fears and uncertainty first stoked by the COVID-19 pandemic and now Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The Revival party has promised to take Bulgaria out of the EU and NATO, and advance policies friendly to the Kremlin.
While many experts dismiss the anti-Western rhetoric of the Revival party as little more than campaign bluster, they do caution that the party is doing the bidding of the Kremlin.
Polling stations will close at 8 p.m.
With reporting by AP
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[1] Url:
https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgaria-elections-russia-gas/32061541.html
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