Bulgarians Unwavering in Support for GERB Cabinet

The approval for the cabinet of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, reached 62% in October, growing by 11% from the 51% right after its appointment.

The data is revealed through a poll conducted by the National Center for Study of Public Opinion (NZIOM).

In comparison, the Cabinet of Ivan Kostov had 53% support in the third month of their rule, the Simeon Saxe-Coburg cabinet, for which the Bulgarians had great expectations – 54% and the one of socialist PM, Sergey Stanishev– 29%.

In the beginning of October, 52% of Bulgarians say they would vote again for Borisov's Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party.

The GERB voters continue to be young professionals, people with college education, Sofia residents and individuals with higher living standards, however, the electoral support for GERB is expanding to include more marginal strata.

The other parties in the Parliament are loosing ground, and their support includes only hard-core followers, the poll shows, a fact that could be explained by the focus of public expectations on the work of the cabinet.

The NZIOM experts, however, note that the data must be examined under certain conditions such as voters' fatigue and the lack of any eminent parliamentary elections.

In October, 11% of Bulgarians say they will vote for Coalition for Bulgaria, which includes the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). Those are people in retirement age, village and small town residents, and people facing financial hardships.

6% of Bulgarians would vote for the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), 45 for the far-right, nationalist “Ataka,” 2,3% for the rightist “Blue Coalition” of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), while the conservative “Order, Law and Justice” Party (RZS) has 1,3% of the voters.

In the meantime, from August to October, President, Georgi Parvanov, lost 7% of his support, down to 52% while the disapproval of his actions is up from 28% in August to 34% in October, showing his efforts to become a corrective of the cabinet are not yielding the desired results.

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