A few days ago the Open Society Institute made public the results of a national sample survey that paint a rather grim picture. Only four institutions in the country enjoy the approval of over 50 percent of the population and they are the EU, the Orthodox Church, the army and universities. The parties, which will be vying with one another at the early general election in less than a month’s time, are bottom of the list with an approval rating of only 17 percent. Just 6 percent of the respondents cannot say whether they trust them or not, but 76 percent are categorical they do not have confidence in the political forces.

Against the background of the low credibility ratings registered by Open Society, polling agencies are predicting a normal voter turnout. 55-60 percent of voters say they will go to the ballot box, around 10 percent say they will not, the rest are undecided. The margin between the low confidence rating of the political forces and the expected normal voter turnout levels goes to show that even though Bulgarians have their reservations, they are inclined to give politicians a chance. But will politicians take advantage of the chance they are given?

On the whole, the pre-electoral campaign shows that parties have been gauging public sentiments correctly, so it is not surprising they have been promising solutions to the most sensitive problems – low incomes, corruption, crime, emigration and supremacy of the law. Yet they have been doing so routinely, never admitting to their own responsibility for these problems and with a marked tendency of holding others accountable. Political memory is frequently short, and promises are given more than generously.

In an attempt to be original, they often overstep the bounds and some of the things they have been saying and doing on the campaign trail have merited numerous political cartoons in the media. Mensa Bulgaria urged parties to have their candidates take a free IQ test, the only condition being that they shall agree to having the results made public, and even though part of the political elite have been rather vocal in their support of a majority election system, so far there has been no response to the invitation by Mensa.

Soon after the start of the pre-election campaign, facts came to light that do not measure up to an adequate standard of social conduct. A monitoring study by the Institute for Public Environment Development ascertained that in the first ten days of the campaign, the parties in poor Bulgaria spent 1.162 million Leva on coverage of their campaign events, almost 830,000 of which is shared by the three parties which stand the best chance of being elected to parliament. At the same time out of a total of 20 political entities registered for the elections (11 parties and 9 coalitions) only 5 have declared the monetary donations they have received at the National Audit Office.

There is time still until the early election on 26 March for the candidates to rectify their conduct. But in itself, the election will not raise the credibility rating of parties, it will only give them credibility on trust that they will have to live up to. Judging by a survey conducted by Market Links, at this stage expectations are running low. 51 percent of Bulgarians say the country is going from bad to worse, 36 percent agree though they are not so categorical and say they are, to a certain degree, optimistic. Only 13 percent say the country is moving in a positive direction.

English version: Milena Daynova