The political campaign for the forthcoming local elections on October 25 ends on Friday, October 23, one month after it started. Most analysts contend that this election campaign was too sluggish and some even believe that it has been the most sluggish campaign in the past 25 years. This time the pre-election competition was not accompanied by various sociological surveys. It may sound strange, but it could actually mean that the political parties were not that interested in the electoral adjustments. A renowned Bulgarian sociologist said recently that the lack of public opinion surveys was not that bad, because it was not that good to live in an ultra-predictable society. The truth, however, is that on the eve of the local elections in Bulgaria, it is very difficult, if not impossible to judge on the correlation of the forces even in the country’s large municipalities.

The local elections differ from the ones held in the past, because this year they will be held together with a national referendum on the electoral system. Initially, the initiators of the referendum intended to ask the sovereign three questions on that referendum, but eventually the voters are to answer one question only - whether the electoral system should include online voting, or not. According to the ones who support online voting, this type of voting would reduce the cases of vote selling and would make voting abroad much easier. However, the referendum campaign was as sluggish as the one for the coming local elections. The results of the national referendum would be valid, if the number of voters equals the number of those who cast their ballots during the last Parliamentary elections in 2014.

According to some political observers, the election competition was passive, because the political parties were interested in low election turnout. A possible low turnout at the forthcoming referendum and local elections would preserve the current political status-quo. According to representatives of the committee that initiated the national referendum named Voting without Borders, the low election turnout would allow some political and economic forces prove the thesis that the voters are not mature enough to make decisions at referendums.

The political forces participating at the coalition cabinet are to run independently at the forthcoming local elections, which caused tension between some political partners. If the difference between the political parties within the ruling coalition increases in the course of the coming elections, the results of the local elections may cause reshuffles in the current cabinet. A possible weak performance of the rightist Reformist Bloc may increase the interrelation between the biggest coalition party GERB and the liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which is currently in opposition. The MRF may also become the second biggest political party in Bulgaria and overtake the Bulgarian Socialist Party. That is why the results of the coming local elections would determine to a big extent the outcome of the next Parliamentary elections in Bulgaria.