Bulgaria Approves Caretaker Govt, Sets Elections Date

Facts

• The Bulgarian parliament formally approved on Tuesday a caretaker government under Dimitar Glavchev, the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) party-linked senior state officeholder that Pres. Rumen Radev appointed to run the country after the collapse of the ruling coalition.¹
• Additionally, the presidential office announced that snap parliamentary elections have been called for June 9, coinciding with the vote for the country's members of the European Parliament.²
• Ahead of the upcoming dual elections, the Central Election Commission of Bulgaria has already set crucial deadlines, including the start of the election campaign on May 10.³
• This comes as the planned power rotation, which would see former We Continue the Change (WCC) Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov and GERB former Vice Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel switch positions last month, triggered infighting.⁴
• The poorest EU member state has long been in political turmoil that frustrated its efforts to adopt the euro currency and receive funding. This will be the sixth time the country has held parliamentary elections in three years.⁵
• According to an IPSOS/Euronews survey on voting intentions conducted in March, Bulgarians slightly favor the center-right GERB. The now-opposition WCC and the pro-Russia Renaissance polled second and third, respectively.⁶

Sources: ¹Associated Press, ²Reuters, ³Novinite.com, ⁴Balkan Insight, ⁵Bloomberg and ⁶Euronews.

Narratives

• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by POLITICO. As Bulgaria prepares for yet another election now that its pro-Western administration has collapsed, it's a matter of fact that the Kremlin, which for years abused its influence in the country to circumvent rules there, will do anything at its disposal to recover its strong clout. Countering Russian disinformation will be key to protecting the people's will.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by RT. Despite the fact that Bulgaria has joined in the Western sanctions on Russia in connection with the war in Ukraine, the deep historic bonds between both nations remain rock solid. All this smear campaign about the Kremlin potentially promoting disinformation ahead of the June elections is merely an attempt to justify an imminent defeat.

Predictions