Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

European Elections 2019: Pre-election rivalry between GERB and BSP getting stronger

Photo: BGNES

A few days ago, BSP signaled the CEC over Prime Minister Boyko Borissov using state resources for conducting the GERB election campaign, going around the country and giving money from the Council of Ministers. In turn GERB submitted a complaint to the Commission against "participation of President Rumen Radev in BSP’s election campaign". The BSP has warned that, according to mayors, chairpersons of municipal councils and deputies, in the course of the election campaign the ruling GERB party resorts to administrative pressure and has intensified inspections on socialist mayors. BSP chairwoman Cornelia Ninova said that because of fears of manipulation of election results, the socialists undertake a parallel vote counting.

Meanwhile, CEC spokesman Alexander Andreev told the Bulgarian National Radio that certification of the voting machines will start on May 16 under the same terms and conditions like the ones during the presidential elections in 2016. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms continues its election campaign with commemoration of the so-called "revival process" in 1989, when the totalitarian regime held a massive action to forcefully change the names of ethnic Turks. Speaking at a pre-election rally that Europe faced a dilemma whether to go in the direction of nationalism and xenophobia or to follow the path of tolerance, democracy and unity, MRF President Mustafa Karadayi pointed out that with its experience, the movement could be helpful. President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, Hans Van Baalen, supported Karadayi, saying Western Europe could learn from MRF's experience in preserving ethnic peace and tolerance. In a televised interview, VMRO leader Krasimir Karakachanov called for a change in EU policy, which had been conceived as a union of sovereign states, and was now run by bureaucrats that no one had chosen. Expressing strong disagreement with Muslim and migrant compliance policy, Karakachanov said that it is was normal for people who had not been invited to come to Europe to dictate rules. During the election campaign of the Ataka party, its leader, Volen Siderov said that Europe was a peninsula part of Eurasia and avoiding communication with Russia was harmful. Siderov has pointed out that one of the first tasks of Ataka MEPs in the new European Parliament would be to demand lifting the embargo against Russia.

English: Alexander Markov



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Bulgarians vote for MPs in 51st National Assembly

Bulgarians go to the polls today to elect 240 members of the 51st National Assembly. Nineteen parties and nine coalitions are registered to take part in the elections. A total of 4 858 candidates - 3 480 men and 1 378 women - are vying for a seat in..

published on 10/27/24 7:10 AM

Campaign silence ahead of early elections for Bulgaria's 51st National Assembly

Today, 26 October, has been declared a day of election silence in Bulgaria ahead of the snap elections for the 51st National Assembly. On this day, voters can reflect and decide how to vote. Since April 2021, this is the seventh early parliamentary..

published on 10/26/24 6:35 AM

Underwhelming campaign raises fears of another early election next year

The seventh election campaign in the political marathon of the past three years is drawing to a close. Have we heard any ideas for a way out of this crisis? Have the no longer surprising news of vote-buying attempts, which once again failed to reveal the..

published on 10/25/24 2:18 PM