Nationalist Leader Vows to Expose Corrupt Pollsters after Elections

Volen Siderov, leader and presidential candidate of nationalist party Ataka, has accused opinion poll makers of substantially skewing Bulgarians' votes.

Four days ahead of the October 23 presidential and local elections, Siderov insisted that a set of widely popular pollsters who were traditionally given preferential treatment had been not manipulating and even replacing the vote for years on end.

Speaking to Ataka supporters in the southern Bulgarian town of Haskovo, he explained that by giving a false picture of pre-election attitudes, the researches actually diverted votes to the candidates shown as more likely to win.

To illustrate his point, the nationalist leader said that if sociologists estimated that he would get 3% of the votes, while his opponent would be supported by 32%, then people would automatically opt for the designated winner instead of wasting their votes on Siderov.

"Once the elections are over I will do whatever is necessary to hold these polling agencies to account, even if it takes legal amendments to make them accountable," Ataka's leader stated.

Siderov referred to the corrupt researchers as influence traders, adding that such activity was punishable by law.

He concluded by saying that, in order to prosper, Bulgaria had to be governed by nationalists.

The issue of skewed pre-election polls surfaced Saturday during the debate among the top three contenders for the presidential post.

In the course of the debate broadcast live on bTV, socialist presidential runner Ivaylo Kalfin criticized the choice of a polling agency to measure viewers' attitudes, saying that the selected researchers were biased towards center-right ruling party GERB and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.