High mobilization, a dividing line around the topic of the war and the insufficiency of political agreements in themselves are the three characteristics that distinguish the elections. This was stated by sociologist from “Alpha Research“ Boryana Dimitrova in an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio.
In her words, the first feature is “very high mobilization“ - both party and personal, especially around the winning presidential candidate couple Iliyana Yotova – Valchev. Dimitrova recalled that if the first round was marked by low voter turnout, the next one showed significant activation of voters.
Division around the topic of war
As a second distinguishing factor, Dimitrova pointed to a line drawn during the campaign. According to her, the candidates were positioned partly as “presidents of peace“, and fears of war became a sensitive issue for voters.
“This was a sensitive line during the campaign“, commented the sociologist.
Support from parties is not sufficient
The third factor she highlighted is the role of political agreements. Dimitrova made a comparison with the 2001 elections and stated that the agreements between political forces themselves are not enough to direct voters to a particular candidate.
According to her, the support received by Andrey Gyurov and Kandev from leaders from the pro-European space was not sufficient without deep mobilization among voters.
Comment on the exit polls
Dimitrova also commented on the criticism of sociological agencies due to the differences between the exit poll data and the results of the parallel counts. She pointed out that the final data that the Central Election Commission will announce is close to the parallel counts of the ballots.
According to her, there is a large enough difference between Iliyana Yotova and Andrey Gyurov that it cannot be explained solely by the inaccuracy of the agencies. “This does not mean that the agencies produced this difference“, said Dimitrova.
She explained that in exit polls, voters themselves share how they voted, while the final result is formed by the ballots in the ballot boxes. Therefore, it is possible that some people indicated to sociologists a different vote than the one they actually cast.
Sources: novini.bg