The ruling GERB party is the big winner at the local elections. It has won the mayoral seats in 21 district cities and towns, with 1,727 out of 5,181 municipal counselors. GERB will also govern most of the 264 municipalities in Bulgaria. The coalitional Reformist Bloc won three mayors in major district towns, while the oppositional Movement for Rights and Freedoms kept its Kardjali mayor. The socialists are the big loser with no red mayor across any district city or town and even losing their positions in the smaller settlements. The voter turnout in the first round was 53.60%, the highest one since 1999, due to the preferential contest. However, the preference resulted in more than 400,000 invalid ballots, which is the bad news at these polls. The turnout was relatively low at the second round – 33.47%.

CEO of Gallup International Bulgaria Parvan Simeonov jokes that the lack of clear opposition turned the elections into an internal affair.

“GERB is the formation that can praise with another full victory, at least with the mayoral results. The collapse for the socialists is not as dreadful as expected, but the question now is where the bottom is for them. However, the fierce blow on their image is a fact. The party comes second in terms of municipal counselors, right after the MRF. The latter’s leader Liutvi Mestan said they lost due to the great number of invalid ballots. The Movement faced two options and it failed to reach either: it is neither an irreplaceable factor, nor is it the permanent second power, though they do not strive for the visible side of power. The forecasts on the Reformist Bloc were confirmed – they sound like the second strongest political force in front of any media, no matter their poll results. We also foresaw that any sudden movements within the executive authority after the polls were unlikely. We said it long time ago that these elections would sound like an internal testing of powers, we only couldn’t predict the degree. It turned out that there was this test of strength not only between the powers in the formation, but also inside political formations, involved in the process of governing. The Reformist Bloc participated with a joint registration, but with the same internal tensions like in the Patriotic Front – it was a test of power, definitely. The lack of a hegemon caused curiosity with the patriots, the way we had got used to with the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria and Ataka. Now the IMRO scored a better presentation, both in the lists and the mayoral candidatures, and at key spots. As far as the reformists are concerned, the contest there has always been between the Bulgaria to the Citizens Movement of Vice Premier Meglena Kuneva and the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria of Radan Kanev. PM Boyko Borissov has always been the arbitrator between them, equally distanced. The people of Kuneva scored more important victories – mayors in Dobrich and Pleven. The ones of Radan Kanev put more efforts in Varna, Haskovo and Sofia. The other support for the government – the ABR showed no significant results, but it is a reservoir for support for the socialists. The bad thing is one never knows when that will happen and whether both formations will have any support at that time.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev