Trading in Mayors: Reactions

The “vote-buying” phenomenon is one of the main stories in the Bulgarian media following the release on July 8 of RiskMonitor report “Mayors on Lease”. Three dailies devote a full page to the subject: Trud, Dnevnik, and Standart. All highlight the main conclusion of the report: the “buying” of votes will continue in future too, as it is determined by too many persistent factors.

The study was conducted by former Sofia ombudsman Antoaneta Tsoneva and her colleague Svetoslav Georgiev. It was discussed at a round table with the participation of sociologists and political analysts.

The Trud daily notes one of the main conclusions in the report: that “the weaker the mayor, the stronger the municipal council”. The article highlights the systemic problem in the structure of local government as a result of which the mayor becomes a client of different majorities. The daily quotes Antoaneta Tsoneva’s observation that municipalities are being transformed from institutions of representative democracy into networks of a criminal character.

The Standart daily defines the report as scandalous, summing up its message as follows: “The mafia is taking over local government.” The daily also quotes Zhivko Georgiev’s opinion expressed during yesterday’s discussion: if the new law on political parties reduces the lawful sum for their financing, this will limit their participation, “leading to hegemony of the criminal contingent”.

The Dnevnik daily quotes the main conclusions of the report and offers the full text of the report on its website. The daily also offers an interview with one of the authors of the report, Antoaneta Tsoneva.

For the Classa daily, the most important finding is that “voters are near extinction”.

Participants in yesterday’s discussion concluded unanimously that the “buying” of votes is a process that will not end soon.