Dnevnik daily publishes election forecasts of three Bulgarian political experts on Friday under the heading Sluggish Campaign, Unpredictable Results, Expected Bargains. Evgeniy Daynov forecasted that GERB nominee Tsetska Tsatcheva will lose the run-off voting and that General Rumen Radev, who is supported by the Bulgarian Socialist Party, would become Bulgaria’s next President. Ognyan Minchev contends that the results of the run-off voting will depend on the bargains between the political parties after the first round. Parvan Simeonov also contends that GERB may lose the forthcoming Presidential elections.

In an interview for Trud daily sociologist Antoniy Galabov commented that although the ballot boxes are still empty, many people believe that the results of the Presidential elections are clear. Galabov also said that even the most categorical comments can’t belittle the fact that electoral behavior of the Bulgarian citizens at the forthcoming elections can’t be forecasted precisely.

Most Bulgarian printed media also focus on the disputes related to the 2017 state budget. Sega daily notes that the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms insisted at a first reading at the National Assembly Budget and Finance Committee that next year’s budget had to be amended, but the majority rejected their proposal. Monitor daily quotes a statement of Premier Boyko Borissov that Bulgaria has been making great efforts to become a tax haven in the EU. 24 Chassa daily and Standart inform that Premier Brissov has assured that the 10% flat tax rate will remain unchanged.

Sega daily writes that in 2016 a total of 8,300 Bulgarian nationals have returned to their motherland as unemployed. Their number was 23% higher as compared to 2015. According to data of the National Employment Agency, over 253,000 Bulgarians have been made redundant since January and that over 206,000 found jobs with the assistance of the employment offices. The unemployment level in Bulgaria continues to decrease and currently amounts to 7.8%.

Zemya daily contends that the fingerprint identification system in the Bulgarian hospitals has collapsed. The newspaper informs that on Thursday the system that was recently implemented by Minister Moscov stopped functioning temporarily.