Just more than 6.7 million Bulgarians are eligible to vote in the country’s June 7 2009 European Parliament elections, and if voter turnout is high, they will send representatives of five parties to the legislature, a new poll says.
 
The Market Links poll, done before June 1 and published on June 4, said in the event of a strong voter turnout, Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov’s Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (commonly known by its Bulgarian abbreviation, GERB) would have six MEPs, the Bulgarian Socialist Party-dominated Coalition for Bulgaria five, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – the party led and supported in the main by Bulgarians of ethnic Turkish descent – three, Volen Siderov’s ultra-nationalists Ataka two and the centre-right Blue Coalition, a joint effort by the Union of Democratic Forces and the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, one.
 
In a report on June 4, mass-circulation daily 24 Chassa quoted various predictions of voter turnout by academics and analysts, ranging from professor Mihail Konstantinov’s forecast that two million Bulgarians will vote in the European Parliament elections and about a three and a half million in the national parliamentary elections on July 5, to Zhivko Georgiev of Gallup International’s prediction that up to 2.4 million people will vote on June 7.
 
With a turnout of about 40 per cent in the European Parliament elections, GERB would get six seats, the Coalition for Bulgaria five, MRF three, Ataka two and the Blue Coalition one.
 
Gallup’s forecast reported on June 4 was that GERB had 35 per cent and the Coalition for Bulgaria 23 per cent
 
On June 2, the Skala polling agency said that GERB would get five MEPs, the Coalition for Bulgaria and MRF four each, and Ataka and the Blue Coalition two each.
 
On May 31, Sova Harris said that GERB would get 35.8 per cent (six seats), the Coalition for Bulgaria 26.9 per cent (five seats), MRF 10.4 per cent (two seats), Ataka 9.9 per cent (two) and the Blue Coalition 8.4 per cent (one), while remaining votes could see the remaining one of Bulgaria’s 17 seats go to either GERB or the Blue Coalition.
 
Polling also rolling for the elections for the National Assembly on July 5 2009. Forecasts in early June gave GERB about 36.8 per cent, the Coalition for Bulgaria 26.4 per cent, Ataka 10.5 per cent, the MRF 9.8 per cent and the Blue Coalition 7.8 per cent. In the national parliamentary elections, seats will be awarded on the basis of a mixture of proportional representation and majoritarian voting.
 
Voting on June 7 for Bulgaria’s European Parliament elections will see 11 400 voting stations open from 7am to 7pm. The Foreign Ministry has opened 51 voting stations in 30 countries where about 4500 Bulgarians working or living abroad will have the chance to vote on Sunday. Bulgarian citizens who have registered to vote in other EU member states add up to about 2700, while only 85 EU citizens resident in Bulgaria and eligible to vote in the country’s European Parliament elections have registered to do so.