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Election fatigue is evident among Bulgarians in Berlin and Dusseldorf

The Bulgarian Embassy in Berlin
Photo: Bulgarian Embassy in Berlin

Low voter turnout, provoked by voter fatigue, and by the fact that October 3 is a national holiday in Germany. In this context, the election day is passing in the country where one of the largest Bulgarian communities in the world lives. Radio Bulgaria talked to two Bulgarians from the polling stations in Berlin and Dusseldorf testify to this.‎

"The voter turnout is quite low at the moment, considering that the Dusseldorf polling stations have been among the most active so far. So far, less than 400 people have voted in the two polling stations," Daniel Dimov told Radio Bulgaria.

Daniel Dimov

He also signaled that there was a problem with some of the voters who arrived in the section:

"Instead of a declaration stating that they will not vote anywhere else, they filled out an application to be added to the electoral roll, which has nothing to do with it. It seems that people have downloaded it from some website, which is not the one of the Central Electoral Commission. Therefore, they had to fill out a declaration again. This, of course, creates certain difficulties that may demotivate them to vote."

There are 49 registered voters in the polling station at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Berlin. "All others who want to exercise their right to vote fill out declarations. This slows down the process, but we are trying to compensate for it, since everyone votes by machine," said commission member Daniel Yanev in an interview with Radio Bulgaria.


Daniel Yanev

As for the adequacy of the messages with which the politicians embarked on the election campaign, Yanev noted:

‎"The election campaign was devoid of substance. Accusations prevailed, there was little talk of what would happen in the future, and no concrete measures were proposed to solve the problems. People are tired of four parliamentary elections that have failed to produce a stable and durable government. No serious steps are seen to solve problems that we have been discussing since the protests in 2020 - corruption, lack of rule of law and others”.

He is also skeptical about the future after election day:

"I don't rule out the possibility of new elections, but whether they will be next year or in a year and a half - I don't know, but I don't think that any government created after today will be able to complete its full mandate. And the polarization we observe in society and among politicians will continue."


"The voter turnout is quite low at the moment, considering that the Dusseldorf polling stations have been among the most active so far. So far, less than 400 people have voted in the two polling stations," Daniel Dimov told Radio Bulgaria.

Written by Joan Kolev

Editing by Elena Karkalanova




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