The elections—both parliamentary and European—are primarily discussed in television studios, with a greater focus on the latter due to the high stakes involved, as MEPs complete their entire term and some of their salaries are “donated” to party funds. In the few so-called pre-election discussions, topics aside from the war in Ukraine, understandably the number one issue for the EU today, included the “Green Deal,” our accession to Schengen, and the introduction of a single European currency.
But where are the leadership debates?
As with previous campaigns, we will not see either Borisov or Peevski in a discourse with other party leaders. For obvious reasons—mafias do not participate in debates; they may appear here and there in their full “glory,” drop some heavy “pearls” of wisdom, and perhaps throw in some cash, as is customary before elections according to our Balkan habits.
However, a campaign is not conducted solely through the media.
We see how this is done in the United States—before large crowds in every state, candidates from the Democrats and Republicans present their ideas and policies, detailing how they will govern, their tax, social, and foreign policies, what percentage of the state budget they will allocate for armament, and their stance on immigration, among other topics.
Parties increasingly fear organizing meetings in large halls because they are unsure that the attendance will not be sparse. Even GERB, which sociologists predict will take first place in the National Assembly elections, opened their campaign in a small sports hall in Stara Zagora. The audience consisted mainly of party members and those appointed by GERB in state and local administration. There were no chants or enthusiastic applause—neither for Borisov nor for any of the party candidates lined up on stage behind their leader.
It would be interesting to see a campaign meeting at one of the stadiums that GERB built in villages and towns, which have remained locked for years.
And there, like in ancient Greece in the agora, to hear the voice of the people and for them to hear theirs. But how could they do this when they fear their wrath, even though they know that Bulgarians rarely rise against the powerful of the day? Such meetings were held and perhaps still are organized by DPS, but only in their regions, which are their strongholds.
Ahmed Dogan, before retreating to his “saray” where he appoints and dismisses the formal leaders of the movement and dictates its policies more than a decade after the assassination attempt against him in the winter of 2013, made a notable acknowledgment at a campaign meeting in the village of Kochan, Satovcha municipality in June 2009. The inebriated leader admitted that he allocates portions of state funding and was met with thunderous applause from the feudalized population. That same evening, at a campaign meeting in Shumen, agent Sava (Dogan’s alias in the State Security) referred to DPS as a “germ” that “enters and never leaves.”
In 2013, Delian Peevski, addressing 10,000 Roma transported from across the country to the stadium in the small town of Krŭn, ecstatically shouted: “GERB has frightened you for 4 years, they terrified you, right? On May 12, we sweep them out and come to power. We will not form a coalition with GERB!”
Yet, since then, DPS has not ceased to be a crutch for GERB, even though it has not had its own ministers in any of GERB’s three cabinets. Throughout these years, Dogan’s party has been managing behind the scenes in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of Environment and Waters, through which billions from European funds are being utilized.
The election campaign is in its first ten days and should be gaining momentum; however, it is not.
People are bored, tired, and a significant portion are disgusted by politicians.
Even when one of the candidates for the European or Bulgarian Parliament raises issues related to education or healthcare—topics that affect every Bulgarian—people do not want to listen. This is because they see the chasm between the capital, large cities, and the deep provinces. They have felt firsthand that if you don’t have money, you have no access to quality education for your children or to proper healthcare. They diligently pay their taxes, yet the only road from their village to the nearest town is broken and sometimes impassable during winter conditions, while they may never travel on highways throughout their lives. They hear people whose standard of living is light-years ahead of theirs promise them heart-wrenchingly dignified incomes and pensions. Despite not being highly educated or having traveled much around the world, they know—at the very least, they’ve heard on their televisions—that our country is the poorest in the EU, with the shortest life expectancy and the highest mortality rate. They hear talk of judicial reform but do not see any results from it. Therefore, they do not go to vote, and sadly, they will not do so again this time…
