(ANSA-AFP).
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(ANSA-AFP) - SOFIA, MAR 31 - Bulgarians head to the polls on
Sunday for the fifth time in two years, with the EU's poorest
member -- traditionally close to Moscow -- divided over the
invasion of Ukraine. The war has exacerbated the political
turmoil gripping the Balkan country since 2020, when months of
anti-corruption protests shook longtime conservative prime
minister Boyko Borisov. A series of elections followed, with the
latest threatening to return yet another fragmented parliament
unable to form a stable government. "We break the record for
number of elections," said analyst Daniel Smilov from the Centre
for Liberal Strategies. Opinion polls ahead of Sunday's vote
predict a low turnout, with many in the capital Sofia not hiding
their anger and disillusion. Aleksandra Kirova, who took part in
2020's mass demonstrations calling for change, told AFP she
would not even vote this time. "I realised something rather rash
was going on (during the protests). The logic was, 'Let's topple
these and then we'll see,'" said the 41-year-old, who returned
to Bulgaria after completing a doctorate degree in France. "We
just set a ticking bomb. What we see now is the result," she
said, adding that she now focused on her family to "distance
myself emotionally" from the pain of politics. - Pro-Russian
feeling - According to the latest polls, Borisov's GERB party is
running neck-and-neck at around 25 percent with the pro-western
reformist We Continue the Change (PP). Led by Harvard-educated
Kiril Petkov, 42, who was briefly premier in 2022, the PP has
joined forces with the small right-wing coalition Democratic
Bulgaria. But if either bloc is to form a government they are
likely to need partners from "parties whose image has been
tainted by suspicions of corruption," Smilov told AFP, "or whose
position towards Ukraine is problematic." The ultra-nationalist
Vazrazhdane party, which is rising in the polls, and the
Socialist BSP, heir of the former communists, have defended the
Kremlin since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Many in the NATO
member look to the east, revering Russia as the country that
ended five centuries of Ottoman rule in 1878. The country's
pro-Russian President Rumen Radev, who has appointed interim
cabinets between the string of elections, has denounced Petkov
and his allies as "war mongers". He has also spoken out against
sending weapons to Ukraine. At the same time, Bulgaria's
munitions factories have been running at full capacity making
ammunition for Kiev that is exported via third countries.
(ANSA-AFP).
(ANSA-AFP).
