Bulgaria’s GERB party, Radev leading in polls before weekend elections

With elections taking place in Bulgaria this Sunday for a new parliament and president, the GERB party has a comfortable lead on the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) while newcomer Continue the Change has the biggest vote reserve because it is the first choice of people who are determined to vote but have not yet decided whom to support, according to a poll by the Gallup International Balkan agency.  

According to the poll, GERB-UDF would get 24.2% of the votes, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) 15.7%, Continue the Change 13.7%, There Is Such a People 11.3%, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) 11.1% and Democratic Bulgaria 9.8%. Below the 4% barrier for entry in Parliament are Vuzrazhdane with 3.3%, Rise Up BG! Here We Come! with 3.1% and VMRO with 2.3%. Five-and-a half per cent would vote for other formations.  

GERB remains the leader in the race but there is a must-watch rivalry for the second place between BSP and Continue the Change. BSP appears to have the edge at this stage but it remains to be seen how the pandemic and machine voting will affect the behaviour of older voters. Among the hesitant, Continue the Change leads with a wide margin on Democratic Bulgaria (24.1% versus 15.6%).  

The presidential race is much less exciting. If presidential elections had been held in the last week of October, Rumen Radev’s re-election bid would have been supported by 47.6% of voters while 25.1% would have voted for his key rival, the GERB-supported Anastas Gerdjikov. The final week of the campaign will be decisive for the current president to secure a victory in the first round.