The question that is being asked today is "what exactly happened in Bulgaria". The answers range from the fact that the voters were too burdened by the reforms implemented by Kost's government, to criticism about the immaturity and irrationality of Bulgarians.
SOFIA, June 19 - "Bulgaria is no longer the same: today we are embarking together on the path of spiritual and economic revival," said former Bulgarian Emperor Simeon of Saxe-Coburg after the convincing victory of his National Movement "Simeon the Second" (NPSII) in the June 17 general elections. The election results show first that Bulgaria has a new leader - Simeon. People did not vote for the parliamentary candidates of his movement, which was created less than two months ago, but for him. Second, that the UDS, led by Prime Minister Ivan Kostov, was badly defeated with three times less votes compared to the elections four years ago. Third, that the BSP, which has gone through major transformations to shake off its communist past, is not a party that Bulgarian voters believe can transform the country. And the last conclusion is that the PPS with Ahmed Dogan at the head is an indispensable factor in the political life of the country that will continue to play a significant role.
KRAH MODELS: The question being asked today is "what exactly happened in Bulgaria". The answers range from the fact that the voters were too burdened by the reforms implemented by Kost's government, to criticism of the immaturity and irrationality of Bulgarians who believe in empty, populist promises. Although Bulgarian analysts avoid using strong terms such as revolution, perhaps revolution most accurately describes what Bulgaria has experienced. In another way, it would be difficult to interpret the almost unanimous assessment that the two-pole political model (right-wing UDS and left-wing BSP) that had been in force in the country since the beginning of the democratic transition in 1989 had been broken.
The fact is that most Bulgarians today have a new icon - Emperor Simeon II - who in a way has become a symbol of hope for justice, honesty and a better future. We can also talk about not a small dose of irrationality, because the personality and work of the former monarch are not well known in Bulgaria.
Simeon the Second, who turned 16 on June 64, was crowned in 1943, at the age of six when his father, Tsar Boris the Third, died. Three years later, the communists expelled him from the country. He and his family first lived in Egypt, and then settled in Madrid, where they still live today.
Simeon is married to a rich Spaniard Margareta, with whom he has five children with sonorous (proto) Bulgarian names - sons Kardam, Kirill, Kubrat, Konstantin-Asen and daughter Kalina. It is known that he graduated from a military college in the USA, that he speaks eight languages well, including Arabic, that he was a business consultant, but which companies and when - this is almost unknown to the public. People who know him speak of him with great respect, but do not go into details.
STATESMAN, NE POLITICIAN: "I am not a politician, but a statesman," says Simeon the Second. However, he is still not revealing his political plans, not even whether he will be prime minister - which is the most powerful position in Bulgaria. He claims that the return of the monarchy is not currently relevant, confirming this by declaring that he is in favor of a republican arrangement.
The secret of Simeon the Second's success is hidden in the words - "trust me", "Bulgaria", "fatherland", "people", "compatriots", which resurrected the era of ideals from the era of the struggle for national self-awareness, writes the Sofia newspaper "Dnevnik". The national movement "Simeon the Second" failed to be registered as a party before the elections, but it was announced that after the formation of the government, the work in this direction will be accelerated and that NPSII will occupy the empty space of the centers in Bulgarian politics.
Considering the election results, upheavals are expected in the leadership of the UDS and BSP. UDS leader Ivan Kostov announced his resignation, but it is not known whether it will be accepted. Calls are already being heard within the ranks of the BSP for its leaders to take political responsibility for the "unsatisfactory election results". The leader of the parliamentary Bulgarian Euroleft, Aleksandar Tomov, announced his resignation, because his party did not enter the parliament.
Dogan's PPS managed to get almost twice as many votes as predicted before the election. Doganov participated in the elections in a coalition with a Roma party and the Liberal Alliance. The PPS received considerable support from Turkey, which unilaterally canceled visas for Bulgarian citizens ahead of the election and allowed tens of thousands of Turkish expatriates from Bulgaria to vote.
Now the biggest unknown is which parties will form the ruling majority. Simeon the Second declared that he would insist on a coalition government and did not rule out an alliance with any parliamentary party. As a condition, he stated the support of his program. Another man in the NPSII, Panayot Panayotov, says that the UDS and the PPS are "natural partners of the tsarist formation." However, many Bulgarian observers believe that it will be difficult to reach an agreement between Simeon the Second and Ivan Kostov, because in the election campaign the UDS criticized the opponent's economic program extremely harshly. Domestic analysts believe that the most likely coalition is between NPSII and Dogan's PPS, which together would have 141 MPs. If there is such a coalition, the forecasts about political instability and possible early elections will probably not be fulfilled.
According to the almost final results, NPSII won 43,05 percent of the votes and will have 120 out of 240 parliamentary seats. The ruling right-wing Union of Democratic Forces (UDS) received the trust of 18,24 percent of voters, or 51 parliamentary mandates. The left-wing coalition around the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) won 17,35 percent of the vote, which gives it 48 seats, and the only remaining political force that passed the 4 percent threshold for entering parliament is the coalition around the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (PPS). ) - the ethnic party of the Turks in Bulgaria with slightly less than 7 percent of the vote and 21 mandates.
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