November 18 (SeeNews) - Both candidates in the Bulgarian presidential run-off vote on November 13 were disliked by social media users in the country, a new study conducted by Sofia-based media analysis provider Perceptica indicated on Friday.
The president-elect, former Air Force commander Rumen Radev, who was backed by main opposition Socialsts, was negatively mentioned by 50% of the Bulgarian social media users, while 87% of users disliked governing GERB party’s candidate, parliament speaker Tsetska Tsacheva, according to the results of the study which comprises over 40,000 online mentions between 13-17 November.
About 68% of the relevant mentions came from mainstream sources, while the remaining 32% were generated by social networks, Perceptica said.
Despite Radev's overwhelming victory, only 22% of all social media users expressed a positive view of him. His supporters found him to be a strong candidate with a clean record and good personal qualities.
However, he was criticised in a large portion of the comments (50%), which referred to his connection to the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) as well as to 'hidden dealings' concerning arms lobbies and foreign interests. Twenty-eight percent of commenters remained neutral.
The presidential election was the leading topic in terms of volume with over 25,000 mentions, followed by the government’s resignation after the vote with over 10,000 comments and the national referendum on proposed changes to voting rules with 4,500 mentions.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov received about as many comments as president-elect Rumen Radev. Forty-four percent of social media users disapproved of the government’s resignation after Tsacheva’s defeat. Only 12% welcomed the resignation.
Borisov received just 3% approval on social networks, with 85% negative and 12% neutral comments. Users sharply criticised his media scare tactics in the days before the election and saw the resignation as a move to capture full power.
The national referendum initiated by TV show host Slavi Trifonov also received mostly negative comments, from 45% of social media users. Only 20% of the users approved of the referendum, while 35% were neutral.
Voter turnout in Bulgaria's national referendum on election rules was some 12,000 votes short of the minimum required for the results to be legally binding, according to the central election commission.
Rumen Radev won 59.37% of the votes in the second round of the presidential elections. Tsetska Tsacheva trailed behind with 36.16%, according to data from the central election commission.
Prime minister and GERB leader Boyko Borissov submitted the resignation of his minority coalition government on November 14 after Tsacheva lost the presidential election.