This election campaign is proving to be too unusual. The multi-directional black PR even before its official start was followed by the criminal murder of a major businessman with a large-scale business and the doubts it raised.
Today, two allegedly Russian drones attacked two Bulgarian ships in the economic zone of the Black Sea. The possibility of a submarine attack is not excluded. All this inevitably makes us ask ourselves the question: are "black swans" flying in this election campaign?
In my opinion, in every campaign there are events that are exceptional and are seen as part of the campaign. These two events are serious for Bulgaria, especially the second one. But anyway, we will see who will offer what and how they will defend the state in this situation. This was commented by political scientist Prof. Maria Pirgova in the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the World in Focus" on Radio FOCUS with host Tsonya Sabcheva.
"Unfortunately, in political debates, the two events are used in different ways and a common Bulgarian position is not sought. We will see which of the presidential candidates will manage to find such a position. I hope this will happen," the guest added.
According to Prof. Pirgova, in the assessment of the presidential candidate pairs, Yotova – Valchev, who, according to sociologists, receive support from about 44-45% of voters.
"Iliyana Yotova continues to fulfill her presidential duties, which gives her additional opportunities for public appearances and for taking positions on various topics, including within the United Nations. She is already an extremely skilled politician and is taking advantage of her presidential position. This gives her a significant lead in the first round," she also commented.
The second pair, Gyurov-Kandev, resonates with what Iliyana Yotova is doing in the public space, the guest pointed out.
"However, it is clear that this pair does not have enough clear proposals and initiative. In my opinion, Andrey Gyurov lacks large-scale thinking. The pair is mainly closed in Bulgarian issues and in topics related more to the work of the government than to the role and functions of the future president. These are weaknesses of this pair. She slightly increases her support, which in my opinion is due to the activation of the PP-DB core. So a result of 26% is acceptable, it seems to me that this result is a consequence of the other pairs performing poorly", said Prof. Pirgova.
The expectations for the pair Kostadinov – Volgin in this configuration are that it will remain within 7-9%, the guest also said.
"The candidacy is not proving to be effective enough and is not showing significant growth. Probably some of the voters of this pair are switching to Yotova, and others to Gyurov. The situation is similar with the voters of the other pairs, who do not offer sufficiently large-scale ideas and a clear vision", explained the political scientist.
"These are candidates who have largely not demonstrated a large-scale vision for the development of the country. They can be highly critical of the ruling party, but critical thinking alone is not enough. A clear position on what needs to be done in the current situation is also needed," she added.
"I believe that if Yotova and Gyurov with their vice presidents go to a runoff, as is assumed, such a debate would be strongly in favor of Ms. Yotova. She is a much more skilled politician, has greater experience in large-scale politics and demonstrates broader political thinking. Gyurov, for his part, will probably again close himself off in criticism and in attempts at geopolitical suggestions, which I do not know how much they will yield results, since in my opinion they are untenable," Professor Pirgova pointed out.