November 8 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria’s centre-right coalition of GERB and Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) is leading by 8.5 percentage points (pp) ahead of its main opponent, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), a poll showed a week before the November 14 snap general election.
The GERB-UDF coalition, led by former prime minister Boyko Borissov, will be backed by 24.2% of respondents determined to cast a ballot on November 14, while 15.7% intend to support BSP led by Kornelia Ninova, according to the results of a survey conducted by Sofia-based Gallup International Balkan that were made public on Saturday. The survey was conducted among 1081 respondents between October 23 and October 31.
According to Gallup International Balkan's poll, We Continue The Change, an anti-graft party formed by former caretaker economy minister Kiril Petkov and former caretaker finance minister Asen Vasilev after the previous snap election on July 11, will attract the support of 13.7% of the voters, followed by populist formation There Is Such a People (TISP) led by musician and showman Slavi Trifonov, which will receive 11.3% backing.
TISP won the July 11 snap vote with a margin of less than a percentage point ahead of GERB-UDF. The populist formation, however, failed to put together a cabinet after it held a series of talks with potential partners in parliament for the formation of a minority government of TISP led by Plamen Nikolov. In August, Bulgaria's parliament approved the decision of Nikolov to give up his nomination for prime minister-designate.
The November 14 snap general elections will be the country's third vote for parliament this year. Bulgaria's president Rumen Radev was obliged to call new early elections in September after each of the three biggest political forces in parliament - TISP, GERB-UDF and BSP, failed to form a working majority.
Two other political formations will cross the 4% threshold and enter the next parliament following the Sunday vote, according to the outcome of Gallup International Balkan's survey - the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which is drawing support mainly from ethnic Turk population, and the reformist Democratic Bulgaria coalition, with 11.1% and 9.8%, respectively.
According to the Gallup poll, the nationalist Vazrazhdane party and Rise Up.BG! We Are Coming!, previously known as Rise Up! Thugs Out!, will fall short of the 4% threshold, attracting 3.3% and 3.1% support. The Rise Up.BG! We Are Coming! political formation, led by ex-ombudsman Maya Manolova which organised a series of street protests against the GERB-led government coalition last year, was the sixth and last political force that managed to cross the 4% threshold to enter parliament after the July 11 snap vote.
As many as 58.2% of the respondents in the Gallup International Balkan's survey said they will certainly vote on November 14.
According to the results of a survey published by Alpha Research polling agency last month, 23.1% of the respondents who said they will vote will cast their ballot for GERB-UDF. As many as 16.8% will vote for BSP, 15.9% for We Continue the Change, 10.9% for Democratic Bulgaria, 10.4% for TISP and 9.3% for DPS. Rise Up.BG! We Are Coming! will get 3.2% of the votes, the poll showed.
The Alpha Research survey was conducted between October 4 and October 10 among 1,123 people above the age of 18. According to the Alpha Research poll, as many as 47.6% of the respondents said they would vote on November 14.
Candidates from 22 parties and seven coalitions will run in the parliamentary elections which this time will take place simultaneously with the presidential election.