Ivan Tsankov is Bulgarian who has been living in Argentina for more than 20 years and is the secretary of the "Bulgarians in Argentina" civic association. He and his wife Aksinia maintain the website "Los bulgaros - the Bulgarians in Argentina", Internet TV of the same name and Internet radio "My Bulgaria", through which they spread knowledge about our country in Spanish. Although they have been living abroad for a long time, they are keenly interested in what is happening in Bulgaria and constantly follow the news from their homeland. In these elections for national parliament they will not be able to vote despite their desire. The reason – on June 9, our compatriots can vote in 60 countries around the world, but none of the four South American countries with Bulgarian embassies is on the list of election sections, including Argentina.

The Bulgarian community in the second largest country in South America is large, but it consists mainly of Argentinians with Bulgarian roots. However, as Ivan Tsankov told Radio Bulgaria, there was a time when there was voting there:

"There had always been elections before this series of votes, which started in these past years and we have always gathered for the elections".

According to our compatriot, the embassy in Buenos Aires was not doing anything to promote what was happening in Bulgaria and there is absolutely no information about the elections on its page.

"According to the requirements of the commission, there must be no less than 40 people /voters/. However, there is a possibility, even if there are fewer people, to arrange the holding of elections with a special letter from the ambassador. However, this is not being done", Ivan Tsankov points out.

Regarding the performance of the participants in the election campaign and whether they have given a sign that they will make maximum efforts to end the series of elections, our compatriot says:

"According to my observations, nothing like that is seen. In this election, the same is noticeable as in the previous few votes. My view is that there will most likely be new elections in the autumn, as everything is repeating itself. The participants are the same, the messages are also repeated."

According to him, the lack of new participants and meaningful messages, unfortunately, leads to people's apathy:

"It's like the joke about the crow standing on a branch with a cheese in its beak. The fox passed by and asked the bird: ‘Will you vote in this election?’ The bird said: ‘No!’. The cheese fell, the fox grabbed it and ran away, and the crow continued to sit on the branch, thinking: ‘Well, even if I had said 'Yes', it would have been the same thing.’ And a lot of people think like this: 'Whether, am I going to vote or not, it's the same thing every time'."

According to Ivan Tsankov this situation could lead to a wider representation of the populist vote. Despite the disappointment of the series of elections in the country, he still hopes that after this vote a government will be formed that will lead Bulgaria to a rational course of governance, without conflicts between political forces. As that's what people expect - stability and predictability.

Publication in English: Al. Markov