SOFIA (Bulgaria), January 31 (SeeNews) – The Bulgarian Socialist Party will win 28.7% of the vote if early parliamentary elections were held now, just ahead of their main opponent conservative GERB party but well short of outright majority, the results of a new poll show.
Four other political parties will enter Bulgaria’s new parliament if a snap vote was held now, according to the results of the survey, commissioned and conducted by Gallup International Balkan, which were released on Monday.
The poll was conducted among 816 respondents across Bulgaria in the period January 27 – January 29.
Nationalist coalition Patriotic Front will receive 11.9%, while the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which represents mainly ethnic Turks and Muslims, will win 8.2% of the vote.
Volya (Will) party led by businessman Veselin Mareshki, and Right-wing Reformist Bloc (RB), the juinior partner of GERB in the minority coalition government that resigned in November, would be the other two parties which will cross the 4% threshold to enter Bulgaria’s next parliament, with 7.7% and 4.3% respectively.
Newly established anti-corruption party Yes, Bulgaria will receive 2.0%, while left-wing ABV will get 1.9%, according to the Gallup International Balkan survey.
Right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), which left the Reformist Bloc (RB) after the presidential elections in November, will receive 1.6% support.
A recent survey, conducted by polling agency Alpha Research jointly with NOVA private TV broadcaster in the period January 14 – January 22, gave centre-right GERB a slim lead over the Socialist Party – 32.6% versus 28.8%. According to that survey, five parties would have entered parliament if elections were held in that period, with Right-wing Reformist Bloc (RB) seen just below the threshold at 3.8%.
Bulgaria will hold early general elections on March 26. A caretaker government, led by former parliament speaker Ognyan Gerdjikov, took office on Friday.