“I see no reason for an increase in voter turnout given the fact that there are neither significant new players on the field, nor is there a rupture and breakdown in the dynamics of the political process, namely the lack of chances to form a sustainable majority.”
This is what the political scientist Slavi Vassilev commented to Iskra.bg on the occasion of the upcoming early parliamentary elections on Sunday. He explained that all of this makes voters continue to vote the way they do. Thus, half of them do not go to the polls at all, and the trend is maintained.
When asked by Iskra.bg whether the voter lists are adequate, Vassilev answered:
“No. They haven’t been updated in a long time.”
The political scientist explained that if we report a voter turnout of around 40%, it can be assumed that we are actually approaching 50% voter turnout. And this is so precisely because of the outdated voter lists.
“But even if this is taken into account, half of the citizens still do not go to vote”, Vassilev stressed.
The political scientist is not a supporter of the argument that machine voting hinders voter turnout. This is exactly what the supporters of the return of the paper ballot in the electoral process in our country claimed:
“Perhaps it was a hindrance at first. But Bulgarian citizens, even those who live further from information technology, are aware of how much more convenient it is to press the button on the screen than to draw with a blue pen on the ballot paper.”
He explained that it is very difficult to predict whether a regular government will be formed after these early parliamentary elections:
“If I have to choose between two probabilities, I will choose the probability that there will be no government.“ But it’s entirely possible that events will disprove me and there will be a government, but I’m not too sure how sustainable it would be.”
