site.btaExacta Poll Shows Seven Parties Likely to Enter Next Parliament

It is very likely that seven parties will enter the next parliament, according to a nationally representative survey conducted by Exacta Research Group between September 10 and 17 face-to-face among 1,050 adult Bulgarians in 71 settlements across the country. The poll was funded by Exacta.

According to voters' attitudes as of September 17, GERB-UDF would get 26.2% of the votes, followed by Continue the Change (CC) with 18.1%. Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) for Bulgaria ranks third with 12.5%, followed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) with 10.3%. Vazrazhdane are fifth with 9.5%, followed by Democratic Bulgaria (DB) with 7.5% and There Is Such a People (TISP) with 5.4%. Bulgarian Rise gets 4%, which is the same as the threshold for entering Parliament.

Bulgarian Rise's results, however, do not guarantee that the party will make it into the future National Assembly, sociologists comment, adding that the party's future will be decided in the last weeks of the election campaign, despite the high approval ratings of its leader Stefan Yanev. Maya Manolova's high approval ratings also do not guarantee Rise Up Bulgaria's participation in the legislature, despite the positive trend enjoyed by the formation since the campaign's start.

It is very likely that seven parties will make it into the next parliament, as Bulgarian Rise is not certain to make it with its 4%, according to Exacta.

According to analysts, exacerbating the election campaign with the use of extreme mudslinging could repulse rather than attract votes.

The share of people willing to vote has decreased slightly since the start of the campaign. According to the survey's results, around 47% of respondents could vote, which is roughly 2.5 million eligible voters residing in Bulgaria. Some 30% of Bulgarians have said that they are more likely not to vote in the elections, while around a third of respondents are undecided. The data clearly shows that the electoral attitudes will continue to be formed until election day.

Two-thirds of respondents believe that Bulgaria should have a regular government after the October 2 snap elections, even if this requires compromises between parties for the purpose of forming a coalition. A third of Bulgarians are firmly against the formation of a regular cabinet at the price of compromises.

The survey shows that all leaders of the main political forces with a chance to enter parliament enjoy the approval of around 90% of their supporters.

GERB leader Boyko Borissov has the approval of 29% of voters, followed by Bulgarian Rise leader Stefan Yanev with 28%, Rise Up Bulgaria leader Maya Manolova (25%), CC co-leader Kiril Petkov (29%), CC co-leader Assen Vassilev (24%), BSP leader Korneliya Ninova (20%), DB co-leader Hristo Ivanov (19%), TISP leader Slavi Trifonov (18%), Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov (15%), MRF leader Mustafa Karadayi (14%) and DB co-leader Atanas Atanasov (14%).

Slavi Trifonov and Kostadin Kostadinov have the lowest approval ratings, and are disapproved by 72% and 70% of respondents, according to Exacta's poll.

Boyko Borissov and Kiril Petkov's ratings stand about the same at 63% disapproval as of September 17.

Outside of party leaders, President Rumen Radev enjoys the approval of 55% of adult Bulgarians, while caretaker Prime Minister Galab Donev's approval rating stands at 31%.

Despite the President's approval gradually declining over the past year, he still enjoys the highest approval among politicians, which places a serious responsibility on him regarding the overall political processes in Bulgaria, the sociologists commented.