"The MECH story in itself is indicative of the quality of parliamentary work and parliamentarism in general in Bulgaria."
This was told to the Bulgarian National Radio by Dobromir Zhivkov, manager of the sociological agency "Market Links".
We did not imagine how far we could go, he noted.
"Radostin Vassilev aims to be provocative and extreme. It seems that this is a political reaction against this style of behavior. But what happens when other political forces from the rostrum of the National Assembly use hate speech? Why is there a reaction now when it is directed at certain political leaders, in particular Boyko Borisov. And when the leader of "Vazrazhdane" comes out and speaks or publishes threats on social networks about the People's Court, etc. - the National Assembly says that if necessary, someone will be fired - then somehow these things pass much more quietly. Here we have a classic example of political hypocrisy, that the rules, when they are disadvantageous, are not followed, and when we have a political interest in it, we can turn a blind eye" - commented Zhivkov.
According to him, the small formations in the National Assembly have no real chance of threatening the ruling majority. "It seems that it is currently stable enough, even if the MRF-DPS withdraw", the expert added.
"At least in the coming months we will not have a threat from the outside to the existence of this coalition. From the inside is another matter" - he also said.
"Will Peevski continue to openly declare that he is running the show? Speaking like this completely discourages GERB's desire, as we see, to participate publicly and actively in the defense of this majority. I think there is also a limit there, which may already be starting to be felt in Peevski's public behavior. But we have seen that the behavior there is extremely volatile - one day things may be calm, but the next they may be brought to a very severe extreme" - Zhivkov noted.
According to the sociologist, a process of replacing the "GERB" model with the "New Beginning" model is being observed. Everything we hear from Peevski is happening, the interlocutor emphasized.
"We see that this is a very consistent line of behavior that leads to real results. We have yet to see the dynamics. It is a bit too early to talk about an entire mandate. These political ambitions of "New Beginning" "will seek reconfirmation in a new vote, where they may even fight for a second political force," he added.
According to him, "Vazrazhdane"'s request for a vote of no confidence will at some point enter the plenary hall, but no serious upheavals are expected in the coming months. According to Zhivkov, even if there are no-confidence votes, they will not gather the necessary support.
The sociologist pointed out that there is a change in the character of the opposition and its clear division into 2 parts - on the one hand there are "Vazrazhdane", MECH and "Velicie", and on the other hand there is PP-DB:
"We also have an opposition that in some respects may seek opportunities to act jointly, but this is also blocked at least by the desire of PP-DB not to create a new political crisis with the idea that we must get to at least June, when we are waiting for a convergent report on entering the eurozone. I do not expect serious interaction from the entire opposition in an attempt to overthrow the cabinet by June."
The protests in Bulgaria are not achieving too much, the sociologist also said. He noted the escalation of protests and public discontent in our neighboring countries.
What may have a more significant impact is the Constitutional Court's decision, which formalizes the serious problems of the Bulgarian electoral process, Zhivkov commented. He sees no reason for a significant change in the results of electoral support for political forces.
"Over the past month, we have reported some mobilization around "New Beginning". In our survey, it was already the third political force ahead of "Vazrazhdane" - Dobromir Zhivkov pointed out.