4 Parties Likely to Enter Bulgaria's Next Parliament - Poll

Four Bulgarian parties are likely to pass the 4% election threshold and enter the country's next parliament, according to a poll conducted by Sova Harris.

Bulgaria's next general elections are to be scheduled for the middle of the summer of 2013. The Sova Harris poll suggests that the ruling centrist-right GERB would win some 26.3% of the vote, while the oppositional Bulgarian Socialist Party would gather 21%.

The ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the Bulgaria for Citizens movement of former European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva would win 5.5% and 5.2%, respectively.

Right-wing parties Democrats for Strong Bulgaria and Union of Democratic Forces, as well as the far-right xenophobic Ataka (Attack), are expected to remain below the threshold, the pollsters say.

The poll has also shown that merely 2.9% of Bulgarians believe that GERB's term in power has been "entirely successful" so far. 25.4% would agree that the government's achievements overshadow its shortcomings, while 36% share the opposite view. A total of 26% describe the rule of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov as a "complete failure."