The campaign for the presidential elections, which Iliyana Yotova is most likely to win, was marked by one thing - fear-mongering. Both candidates who reached the runoff, but far from the only ones, presented their opponent as a major threat to the future of the state.
"Gyurov will bring Bulgaria into war"
The election speeches of Iliana Yotova, as well as of Prime Minister Rumen Radev, to whom she was vice president for nine years and whose party supported her in the elections, often focused on the fact that Andrey Gyurov "will bring Bulgaria into war".
This is practically impossible, since according to the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, such decisions are made only by the National Assembly. "Progressive Bulgaria" currently has an absolute majority in it. Without the consent of the party that supported Yotova, Bulgaria cannot "turn out" at war only by the decision of the president, whoever he may be.
On social networks in the last days of the campaign, the narrative about the potential war that the country would find itself in if Gyurov won the elections began to take on a familiar tone - publications threatened with "Maidan", which would be "brought" to us with such an election result. This is a message that was sent by both Viktor Orbán before the parliamentary elections, which he and his party lost this year, and Aleksandar Vucic before the elections, in which the "Student List" prevailed. and removed him from power.
Iotova and the "shadows of the communist regime"
Andrey Gyurov's campaign presented the elections as a vote to preserve democracy, talking about the path to autocracy if the president and the government are from the same party.
Gyurov himself also mentioned the "shadows of the communist regime" when commenting on the actions against MRF mayors before the vote.
All Bulgarians lose from division
The instrumentalization of fear in the election campaign is something we observe all over the world. We see it in the United States, in a number of countries in Europe and beyond. In addition to the fact that often the threat that candidates see in the face of their opponent is imaginary at best, this election strategy is problematic mainly because it divides society. Such theses automatically turn the "other" into an enemy - not only on a political principle, but also on a purely human one. And there is no conversation on real political issues.
This was also evident in the only debate between Gyurov and Yotova, where attacks on the opponent's past actions once again prevailed instead of a debate, let alone a dialogue about future policies in substance.
All Bulgarian citizens lose from this, the social contract that the president must maintain loses. Regardless of the results, the divisions remain, and the "unifier" of the nation wins another five years in the presidency, thanks mostly to disunity.
This text expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and DW as a whole.
Source: www.dw.com