75%. The MECH party led by Radostin Vasilev increased its result by that much in the current vote compared to its first appearance in the elections - on June 9. From nearly 63,992 to 111,615 votes with almost fully processed records. The current result means the support of 4.59% of those who voted and the first entry into the Bulgarian parliament for the formation established in October 2023.
The rise of MECH is not unexpected, as the latest sociological survey by “Alpha Research” gave the party 3.8%, but sociologist Boryana Dimitrova told bTV that there is a possibility that the threshold will be crossed because of the emotional protest vote.
The party bet on an unconventional and noisy campaign, in the literal sense, already for the elections on June 9, with branded buses moving in the largest cities, from which calls for support for the elections were distributed through columns. The posters and campaign materials handed out also seemed an impressive number, even more so for a newly formed political entity.
The approach was continued after the grant was received. However, the costs of media coverage of MECH before the elections are not impressive. According to data from the Institute for Public Environment, the party spent BGN 40,400 as of October 23. Thus, the main trump card remained social networks.
The party has an official website, on which the words of Radostin Vassilev are quoted, that it is the first pro-Bulgarian, patriotic and nationally responsible party. The “anti-corruption“ is also mentioned separately. 12 priorities are listed in one sentence, including “It is time to seek responsibility by refounding the judicial system”, “Protection of our national sovereignty and traditional Christian values before the EU”.
Vasilev says that it is a centrist project. “A modernized pro-Orban project, and the name of the party fully corresponds to the character of the policy that we will pursue against the mafia,”, he declared at the establishment of the party.
The “Facebook“ of SWORD doesn't seem very popular – it was liked by only 4,700 people, but several pages appear in the name of Radostin Vassilev, and the official page is followed by 110,000 people. Tik Tok and YouTube profiles are also connected to it.
Vassilev's page is nearly 3 times more popular than the profile of the leader of the similar message “Greatness” Ivelin Mihailov, who has 40 thousand followers. What they both have in common is that they often appear as guests of various vloggers who have gained popularity online in recent years.
Vasilev is also particularly popular on Tik Tok, where he has nearly 76,000 followers and his videos have over 1 million likes. His party channel has another 50,000 likes.
On social networks, MECH relies on provoking interest, for example, with an excerpt from an interview with Radostin Vassilev with the words: “I would meet with Putin to talk about trade, gas supplies, oil”.
"Financial Times" defines MECH as a "Eurosceptic conservative group that claims "neutrality" regarding Ukraine". The party talks about peace but defends a pro-Russian position on Russia's war against Ukraine. Calls for the immediate suspension of military aid to Kiev and the adoption of a policy of complete neutrality.
Vasilev is a supporter of the “firm hand”. "You need a leadership approach. Soft liberal measures will not do. If the Bulgarian people don't see 30-40 deputies hacked, arrested, they won't trust any political force, he says.
According to him, in the next 2 years, after experiencing a catharsis, Bulgaria will transition from a parliamentary republic to a one-party or two-party government with a markedly authoritarian model. “That way, he will be able to get rid of Borisov and Peevski,", he says.
Where did the votes for MECH come from? About 40,000 are the voters who voted for them on June 9, and have now voted for the party. The remaining votes out of a total of more than 110,000 that the formation is now winning come mainly from those who previously voted "I do not support anyone", non-voters or former voters of the main parties. This type of electoral physiognomy is inherent in protest formations against the entire political stratum. As with other similar parties, it turns out that MECH has a high proportion of young people – more than a fifth of the vote for the party comes from 18-30-year-olds, with an average participation of young people in the entire vote of about 15%, according to "Gallup".