The 4th election day for 2021 registered an extremely low voter turnout in the country, barely clearing 30% (30.3%). Rumen Radev, who, according to inconclusive results wins the presidential election, commented the low motivation of the voters, explaining it with fatigue: “People are weary of elections, of the pandemic, they are weary of manipulations and orchestrated scandals. But most of all, our landslide victory in the first round made many people complacent.”
But analysts discern other reasons. “Bulgarians have stopped believing there is any point in voting,” says advertising expert Radoslav Bimbalov in an interview for the BNR. In his words “the reluctance to vote we are seeing is an indication that voters reject the possibility of expressing their opinion of the processes taking place “in high places”. That is the dreadful conclusion we as a society must draw.”
With each succeeding election we have been registering record lows in voter turnout, which in itself calls into question the legitimacy of the governing bodies in the country, observers say. The reasons why this is so can be sought in many different places – from the fact there was no serious stake at the runoff, to the overall inflation of leadership and the voters’ lack of trust in the politicians in the country.
Psychologist Mihaylina Abrasheva says this is a serious problem as “whoever may take the helm of the country will not possess the self-assurance of having powerful public support. It is one thing to shoulder responsibility when there are millions standing behind you, and another when there are thousands. Sense of responsibility, sense of one’s importance, public appraisal, are all lower when voter turnout is low. When the starting point for a politician is low it is easy to cross boundaries, even in a personal capacity, it is easy to reach the point of authoritarian rule, it is easy to get out of control.” In her words, however, boredom, not fatigue is the reason why voter turnout at the presidential runoff was so low.
Interviews by Horizont channel, BNR
Editing by Elena Karkalanova
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