„It is difficult to make predictions at this moment. I think we are still in the process of restructuring the preferences of this electorate that managed to achieve second place in the June election”.
This is what the sociologist Dobormir Zhivkov from “Market LINKS” told bTV. to the question of where the votes of the traditional DPS electorate will go in the October 27 election.
According to his words, at the moment it seems that Ahmed Dogan's faction has clearer and more structured support, but this does not exclude the possibility that Delyan Peevski will tear away serious segments of the traditional DPS electorate.
The sociologist specified that his agency will be able to present the first data on electoral attitudes before the vote at the end of next week.
Regarding the bought vote, Zhivkov commented that in the previous elections in June this year, there was a very high share of controlled and bought votes.
„Not only because we had a low voter turnout, which increases the share of this type of voting. This was very clearly visible in the change of attitudes in certain sections, which is the main indicator of this kind of phenomenon.
His prediction is that in the October 27 election the picture with the controlled vote will be similar to that of the June 9 vote. According to the sociologist, this time it will be concentrated in certain political forces and not dispersed.
To the question of whether there is a path to rapprochement between the two factions in the DPS, he answered: “Judging by Ahmed Dogan's requests, there is no way back. And so it is on the other side. I think we're witnessing a lasting divide in this segment of the political spectrum, and it's only going to deepen. It would be good for the Bulgarian state and for Bulgarian politics if this heated war subsides and it starts to be fought with political means, not with institutional ones.