If parliamentary elections were held now, 26.2% of voters would support the GERB party, 16.9% would vote for the ruling coalition member Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), 7.4% for the junior ruling coalition member Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and 6.9% for nationalist Ataka, a survey conducted by MBMD agency between January 22 and 25 among 1,205 polled showed.

According to the poll, the rightist Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) will receive 2% of the votes; Order, Law and Justice, 1.8%; FORWARD Movement, 1.7%; ruling coalition member National Movement for Surge and Stability (NMSS), 1.5%; right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, 1.2%; Bulgarian New Democracy (BND), 0.3%; Union of Free Democrats (UFD), 0.3%. Thirty four per cent of the participants in the poll said they will not vote.

MBMD Director Miroslava Radeva said that she does not accept the thesis that the elections issue is decided in advance and that the existing model of ruling will be repeated. The thesis that the leading party GERB will be forced to make a coalition with BSP is of political rather than sociological nature. Its goal is to make current rulers legitimate and discredit the opposition and GERB, as well as and to convince the opposition parties that current rule has no alternative. According to her, the political model of Bulgaria has not been representing the interests of people since long time, which is the great drama of the Bulgarian society and the reason people feel disappointed, dissatisfied and unwilling to vote.

Forty five per cent of the polled said that if parliamentary elections were now, they will vote, 15% will vote but have not decided yet for which party, 14% have not decided yet to vote or not, 24% will not vote.

Regarding trust in politicians,GERB informal leader Boiko Borissov leads with 45.2%, followed by President Georgi Purvanov, 42.4%; Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, 24.1%; Ataka leader Volen Siderov, 18.1%; MRF leader Ahmed Dogan, 10.7%; NMSS leader Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 8.7%; UDF leader Martin Dimitrov, 6.7%; DSB leader Ivan Kostov, 6.3%. Of ministers, Culture Minister Stefan Danailov receive the highest per cent of trust, 37.8%, followed by Education and Science Minister Daniel Vulchev, 30.7%; Ivailo Kalfin, 25.6%.

According to the data, 34.8% of the polled have trust in the Presidency, 18.7% in the Government, 13% in the National Assembly, 33% in the police, 17.2% in investigation, 15.2% in court, 14.6% in prosecution. Trust in Bulgarian National Television stands at 54.3%, in Bulgarian National Radio, 46.5%, in the press 40.2%.

Fifty one per cent of the polled think that the situation in the country will get worse in the upcoming months, 32% say that it will remain the same, and 14% believe that it will improve.

According to the polled, the biggest problem in the country now are the low incomes, 27%; the bad governing of the country, 20%; the corruption, 18%; the unemployment, 16%. Other problems include high prices and inflation, 7%; crime, 4%; lack of lawfulness and justice, 3%; health care, 2%; education, ethnic problems, low birth rate and aging of population, 1% each.

Source: BTA