The last weekend of the European Elections campaign in Bulgaria ended. GERB party held its central election event in Sofia with the participation of the candidate of the European People’s Party for the President of the European Commission Manfred Weber. Bulgaria’s Premier Boyko Borissov assured Manfred Weber that he can rely on the support of the future MEPs from GERB and the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS). Premier Borissov also pointed out that Sofia will expect to receive support by the European Commission in some fields such as: construction of a gas distribution hub on Bulgarian territory, accession in the Schengen Area and cohesion policy.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party maintained its aggressive tone during the election campaign. The leader of the European Elections list of BSP for Bulgaria Elena Yoncheva said in the town of Kazanlak (Central South Bulgaria) that “GERB is selling Bulgaria off” and the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Kornelia Ninova pointed out that “the only goal of Premier Borissov is to remain in office until the election of the next Prosecutor General, in order to guarantee his own impunity”.

The candidates for MEPs from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms visited the honorary Chairman of this political party Ahmed Dogan who has rarely participated in public events in the recent years. The Chairman of MRF Mustafa Karadayi called on the supporters of this political party “to be as united on May 26 as they were 30 years ago when they went out on protests”.

The representatives of Democratic Bulgaria coalition pointed out that on May 26 they “will not fight to send one, two or three MEPs to the new European Parliament, but to provide alternative to the two-party model of GERB and BSP mediated by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms”.

Sociological survey of Barometer Bulgaria shows that GERB, BSP, MRF and VMRO stand the biggest chance to send MEPs in the next European Parliament. However, many Bulgarians are still undecided, which may influence the final results of the European elections on May 26. 33.8% said they will vote for sure on the forthcoming EP elections, 36.5 % of the respondents are undecided and 29.7% contend that they will not vote at the EP elections.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov