- Title: BULGARIA: BULGARIAN LEADERS VOTE IN GENERAL ELECTION.
- Date: 25th June 2005
- Summary: (W3) SOFIA, BULGARIA (JUNE 25, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. GV: EXTERIOR OF POLLING STATION, WHERE SERGEI STANISHEV, LEADER OF BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY, IS TO VOTE 0.02 2. MV/CU: STANISHEV CASTING HIS BALLOT (7 SHOTS) 0.23 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Bulgarian) SERGEI STANISHEV, LEADER OF THE BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY AND CANDIDATE, SAYING: "There is going to be a majority in the parliament, able to guarantee the stability of the government and the necessary changes."; STANISHEV LEAVING WITH REPORTERS (3 SHOTS) 0.35 4. GV/MVC/CU: PRIME MINISTER AND CANDIDATE SIMEON SAXE COBURG CASTING HIS VOTE (5 SHOTS) 0.58 5. CU/GV: (SOUNDBITE) (Bulgarian) SIMEON SAXE COBURG, PRIME MINISTER AND CANDIDATE, SAYING: "The important thing was to encourage the people to vote even by a lottery."; LEAVING (2 SHOTS) 1.08 6. MV: PRESIDENT GEORGI PARVANOV VOTING (2 SHOTS) 1.25 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Bulgarian) GEORGI PARVANOV, BULGARIAN PRESIDENT, SAYING: "The important thing is that the election day is going on normally, I believe the elections will pass in a quiet and democratic way, which will be a sign of an irreversible democratic process."; SHAKING HANDS WITH SUPPORTERS (2 SHOTS) 1.40 8. VARIOUS: PEOPLE VOTING (10 SHOTS) 2.11 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th July 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SOFIA, BULGARIA
- Country: Bulgaria
- Reuters ID: LVA368DMHD6I9NU7GIWCJW3S8OIO
- Story Text: Bulgarians expected to vote for change.
Bulgarians voted on Saturday (June 25) in an
election expected to see the Socialists topple ex-king
Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg and take over the tough
task of steering the country into the European Union in
2007.
The poll's winner must complete a mountain of difficult
reforms under increased Brussels scrutiny as scepticism
over further EU expansion grows after recent French and
Dutch rejections of the bloc's constitution.
If efforts fall short, Sofia's entry could be delayed
by a year, dealing a blow both to investors betting on its
convergence with the euro zone and to Bulgarians who have
made sacrifices under Saxe-Coburg, to join the wealthy
bloc.
Polls opened at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) and close at 7 p.m.
(1600 GMT). In the first seven hours about 30 percent of
6.75 million eligible voters had cast ballots, election
authorities said.
Although investors have praised Saxe-Coburg's
government as the best since the fall of communism, public
discontent over poverty and crime have forced the only
monarch to be elected prime minister in Europe into a
distant second in opinion polls.
Led by thirty-nine-year-old progressive Sergei
Stanishev, the Socialists are eager to show they have
changed since they were ousted in 1997 after plunging the
country into economic disaster.
"There is going to be a majority in the parliament,
able to guarantee the stability of the government and the
necessary changes," Stanishev told reporters after casting
his ballot at a Sofia school.
Despite vowing economic prudence and to tackle reforms
crucial for EU accession , such as revamping a lumbering
judiciary, analysts say their plans for more social
spending are a bigger risk for the economy.
But it was such pledges that pushed their ratings to 40
percent, almost double the 20 percent for the ruling team
of Western-educated technocrats.
Personality is also playing a role. Stanishev's casual,
modern style is a far cry from his opponent's, a
sixty-eight-year-old who is often described as aloof and
distant.
Banished in 1947 at the age of nine by the communists,
the former boy-king returned to win a landslide election
victory in 2001. He led Bulgaria into NATO and to the
threshold of the EU, boosted economic growth to 6 percent
and cut unemployment.
Despite his achievements, failure to deliver on 2001
pledges to make all Bulgarians wealthy in 800 days has
angered voters. Bulgaria's 2004 per capita GDP of 2,498
euros makes it second only to Turkey as the poorest EU
member or candidate.
Analysts say a low turnout would favour the Socialists
and Saxe-Coburg urged Bulgarians to come out and vote.
"The important thing was to encourage the people to
vote even by a lottery," he said.
The Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov, said
democracy was the key.
"The important thing is that the election day is going
on normally, I believe the elections will pass in a quiet
and democratic way, which will be a sign of an irreversible
democratic process," he said
With no party likely to win an outright majority in
parliament, the Socialists are expected to form a coalition
with the mostly ethnic-Turkish Movement for Rights and
Freedoms, Saxe-Coburg's current ruling partner.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None