Voters are no longer looking for a savior, but are voting for their political future. This is how Levon Hampartzumyan commented on the first round of the presidential elections in the program “Face to Face“ on bTV.
Hampartzumyan is part of the Initiative Committee that nominated the presidential candidate pair Andrey Gyurov – Georgi Kandev. He said that the low voter turnout does not bother him because the number of people on the voter lists does not correspond to the real number of citizens who can exercise their right to vote.
“People have sobered up and are voting for their political future“, said Levon Hampartsumyan.The difference between the two finalists is less than 3 points
The official results of the first round show a contested race. Iliyana Yotova and Kiril Valchev received 34.759% of the votes, and Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev - 31.952%. The difference between the two pairs is 2.807 percentage points.
1,525,034 people went to the polls out of a total of 6,584,025 citizens with the right to vote. In third place are Kostadin Kostadinov and Petar Volgin with 12.545%. The option “I do not support anyone“ was chosen by 4.426% of those who participated.
The runoff is scheduled for November 1. It will decide who will take the presidential post, after neither of the two leading pairs gathered the necessary support to win in the first round.
Dispute over the influence of party leaders
Hampartsumyan compared the results with the parliamentary elections on April 19. According to him, then voters were guided by the expectation of a person who would solve the political crisis, while in the presidential vote their behavior is more conscious.
He rejected the thesis that the decisions of party leaders will automatically transfer votes to a certain candidate. According to him, the presidential vote is a majority vote and personal support for the candidates is more important than party instructions.
Hampartsumyan also pointed out that Andrey Gyurov has shown that he can be a good prime minister with high public trust. According to him, this is also reflected in the result of the presidential candidate pair.
Will there be a rearrangement of votes
Emanuil Yordanov, who represents the Initiative Committee of Iliana Yotova and Kiril Valchev, said that some of the voters of the dropped candidates may support Yotova. According to him, others may not vote or choose the option “I do not support anyone“.
Yordanov defended Yotova's candidacy with her experience and competence.
“People should choose Yotova because of her experience and competence“, said Emanuil Yordanov.So before the runoff, the main question remains how the votes will be distributed for the dropped candidates and to what extent the appeals of the party leaderships will influence the voters.
Sources: novini.bg