site.btaUPDATED Campaign Highlights: Sept. 6

National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB) chair Boris Yachev told BTA in Plovdiv, South Central Bulgaria, "We have proven that we can lead in times of crisis, and we expect the Bulgarians to trust us again". According to Yachev, his party proposes short-term measures to fight inflation, the galloping prices of electricity, gas and necessity goods. Margarit Mitsev, whose party ONB supports the NFSB, added, "We work alone, we have no sponsors, and we rely on the smart, sensible and hardworking people of Bulgaria, who with their own efforts must reclaim the country from the matrix and fatal bliss of xenophilia". NFSB members and supporters laid a wreath on the Monument of Bulgaria's Unification in Plovdiv.

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Continue the Change (CC) co-leader Kiril Petkov laid a bouquet in front of the Stefan Stambolov Monument in Sofia on the occasion of the 137th anniversary of the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1885. He said that the Unification gave generations of Bulgarians the opportunity to dream - for better education, healthcare, infrastructure, and incomes; for Bulgarians to return from abroad and work for their country. Petkov hopes that politicians will unite around these priorities after the elections and stressed CC's readiness to unite with anyone who truly believes in this cause. He concluded his speech with the words of Stambolov - "I believe that Bulgaria will come out of the current crisis whole[...], that Bulgaria will enter a safe and good harbour".

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The first and most important goal for Vazrazhdane in the next parliament is to take urgent legislative measures to prevent the surge in prices of basic commodities and energy, said the party's deputy chairman Petar Petrov at a meeting with citizens in Vratsa. He added that this is a short-term goal in their platform, which they will focus on in the National Assembly if elected. Other goals are a change in the "unreasonable foreign policy that has been pursued in recent months" and measures against the demographic crisis.

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Bulgarian Rise's leader and former Defence Minister Stefan Yanev spoke about the anniversary of Bulgaria's Unification in Plovdiv. Yanev made a connection between the holiday and the sign on the National Assembly Building that reads "Strength through Unity". "Only united, only together can we do our job better as people, as citizens, as a generation, so that there is a secure and stable Bulgaria," the former minister said. He called for working towards a country, which is able to achieve its national interests, saying, "Only together can we do this, which is why it is important that we uphold the will of our forefathers".

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There Is Such a People (TISP) has the primary mission to do everything possible to make the proposed referendum a reality, said party leader Slavi Trifonov during an interview on the air of 7/8 TV, commenting on the party's idea to propose a national referendum for people to express their opinion on whether Bulgaria should become a presidential republic. Trifonov also commented that TISP will not make a coalition with GERB after the elections, and he himself will not run for president.

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GERB leader Boyko Borissov said that much depends on where GERB will stand as a political force. This will show how the negotiations for forming a coalition government will be conducted. According to him, the early parliamentary elections will cost about BGN 80 million, and since last year the state has spent BGN 600-700 million  on elections. He was speaking in Stara Zagora during a visit of the renovated Summer Theatre.

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Democratic Bulgaria. Bulgarian voters for the first time have the historic chance to vote from left to right along the entire political spectrum, for pro-European political forces, said Yordan Ivanov, leader of the DB list in 17MIR, Plovdiv-region. In his words, Continue the Change is positioned to the left of centre, while Democratic Bulgaria is centre-right, "which is a real opportunity for a European governance of Bulgaria", according to Ivanov.

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The sequence of the campaign highlights featured in this report follows the ballot numbers of the 29 contestants in the October 2 snap parliamentary elections.