site.btaUPDATED Campaign Highlights: Sept. 27

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov told reporters in Blagoevgrad, Southwest Bulgaria, that power is in the hands of the people. According to Kostadinov, power can be granted either to people who continue "the current course of deadly policies" or to Vazrazhdane. Kostadinov stated that Vazrazhdane in power would result in Bulgaria having a population of 10 million people within a decade and doubled GDP. "Those who do not vote are committing a crime against the future of their own children," Kostadinov said. His biggest priority is the preservation of peace in Bulgaria. According to him, Vazrazhdane is the embodiment of peace.

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Bulgarian Rise leader Stefan Yanev told a meeting with representatives of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria in Pernik (Western Bulgaria) that his party is proposing a new taxation system concerning all companies working with public resources.  The idea is to introduce progressive income taxation, which will reduce these companies' profit leaving a larger share of the tax to the State. This is a real instrument for reducing corruption in public procurement procedures.  The economy's development is at the basis of a State's prosperity, and businesses and the State should work in symbiosis, Yanev argued.

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There Is Such a People closed its elections campaign with an evening concert in Kyustendil (Western Bulgaria). "We expect the people to trust us to defend our positions in the National Assembly, because these are correct, consistent, honest, sincere, and coming from the heart," said top-of-the-list candidate Snezhanka Trayanska. According to her, it is important to achieve consensus in the new Parliament on solving citizens' problems and finding bridges between the parties.

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GERB leader Boyko Borissov told his party members in Sofia that he sees no current topic with a likely positive outcome. "I have drawn up dozens of budgets. I do not know how two make two short ends meet," Borissov said. The GERB leader warned, "Whoever takes responsibility for the government should know that in December there may be no money left for pensions, if there is no support, given the 10% tax, the monstrous inflation, the international markets status quo". He said that it would take months, or even years, to restore confidence in the financial institutions in Bulgaria.

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Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leader Korneliya Ninova said in Vidin, on the Danube, "Encourage people to vote, do not be afraid of the [voting] machines". Ninova expressed hope for high turnout from her party supporters, so that the BSP can have more MPs in the Bulgarian parliament. "Only this way will the BSP and its members be able to continue what was started and lead Bulgaria through the difficult months ahead," Ninova said. She told voters that Bulgaria's greatest asset is the Vidin industrial zone, and that its development will be a priority for the BSP, if the party serves in the new Bulgarian government.

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.