President Zlatko Borisov Orders Snap Elections For Before New Year
SOFIA, Bulgaria
11 26 2022 16:34 GMT +1
President Zlatko Borisov (GERB) has ordered the 5th set of snap elections since 2019 in the Bulgarian Republic. This comes after the GERB, the President's own party, failed to established a working coalition majority in the eight months since the last election. President Borisov has yet to have a working government in his second five year term since his re-election in 2018. Currently the GERB entertains 97 of the 121 seats needed to secure a majority, however none of the other parties barring the far-right ultranationalists (Patriotic Front), are willing to enter a coalition with the President's party due to continued scandals and allegations of corruption.
The last previously scheduled election was April 2019, followed by snap elections in September 2019, July 2020, January 2021, with the latest being in March of this year. All elections except for of the one in January 2021 ended in political deadlock, with the GERB and BSP interchanging first place. The GERB manage to establish a minority government to support the President by securing 120 seats with 37.6% of the vote in that election.
The infectivity of the Bulgarian Republic's governing system being on full-displace once again tonight. The reliance on the Presidential system has resulted in degradation of the public's trust in the governing institutions due to increased partisanship and extremist on all sides. The GERB who entered into power in 2013 with President Borisov's election as political outsiders have now been type-cast as the very corrupt establishment that they claimed to wish to dispose of.
The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) once again announced today they intend to include a constitutional convention as part of their election manifesto to update the Republic into a parliamentary one, turning the Presidential head of state into a more symbolic office. Currently the Bulgarian Republic uses a Presidential system in which the President is elected by popular vote every five years, and is required to form a government using a parliament elected typically six months after him using first past the post. However, due to the failure of the GERB to establish a majority in April 2019, Borisov has been reliant on caretaker governments and been unable to undertake any major policy initiatives.
A few months ago video surfaced of the President lamenting that his "term had been stolen by insolent children", a reference to the the BSP's extremely young leader at 32 years of age.
Borisov stated that he intends to launch one final bid to establish a majority for his party before his term expires in March in order provide his successor a working government. While no-one in the GERB has yet announced their campaign for President, many insiders have speculated that Borisov may be attempting to establish a majority in order to have Parliament grant an exception to the two term limit of his office as is allowed per the constitution. This would explain the rush to hold the elections in December when the cold temperatures are likely to keep many exhausted voters away.
Opposition parties such as the Movement of Democracy, the People's Union, and the People's Party have demanded EU monitoring of the election as the GERB managed to pass an electoral law with ATAKA limiting polling place access from political parties. It is unlikely the Government will approve such measures without significant push-back.
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