(27 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bankya, Bulgaria – 27 October 2024
1. Close of locked door at polling station
2. Election workers entering polling station
3. Police officer checking lists
4. Various of election workers preparing inside polling station
5. Election worker setting time on clock
6. First voters entering polling station
7. Voter Tsvetan Vladimirov at registration desk
8. Various of Vladimirov voting
9. Vladimirov casting ballot
10. Ballots in ballot box
11. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Tsvetan Vladimirov, voter and Bankya resident:
“I am coming with some hope. I am deeply disappointed with these non-stop elections, because there is no alternative, only voting, voting and nothing."
12. Sign with voting instructions
13. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Tsvetan Vladimirov, voter and Bankya resident:
"Changes are needed to stop these thefts, this corruption. They have to be stopped somehow so the country to prosper."
14. Election worker fixing ballot box sign
STORYLINE:
Bulgarians started casting their ballots on Sunday in the seventh general elections in just over three years, while there is little hope that a stable government will be formed to stop the country’s growing political instability.
Voter fatigue and wide disillusionment with politicians have created an environment where radical political voices, aided by Moscow’s widespread disinformation, are successfully undermining public support for the democratic process and boosting the popularity of pro-Russian and far-right groups.
“I am coming with some hope. I am deeply disappointed with these non-stop elections, because there is no alternative, only voting, voting and nothing," Tsvetan Vladimirov told the Associated Press as he voted in the town of Bankya on the outskirts of Sofia.
The never-ending election spiral has a serious impact on Bulgaria’s economy and its foreign policy.
The country risks losing billions of euros in EU recovery funds due to lack of reforms.
Full integration into the open-border Schengen area and accession to the eurozone are likely to be delayed further.
Polling stations opened at 7am local time (0500 GMT) on Sunday.
Initial exit poll results will be announced after polls close at 8 pm (1800 GMT) and preliminary results are expected on Monday.
According to latest opinion polls, Bulgarians’ lack of confidence in elections will result in a record low voter turnout.
Gallup World Poll data show only 10% of Bulgarians trust the integrity of their elections – the lowest in the EU, where the average is 62%.
Some observers have labelled the past few years as a period of “revolving-door governments,” which additionally has fueled voters’ apathy.
There was no clear winner in the latest vote, held in June, and the seven groups elected to the fragmented legislature were unable to put together a viable coalition.
Observers suggest that Sunday’s vote will produce more of the same and that chances for an immediate end of the political stalemate are low.
AP video shot by Valentina Petrova
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