PRECISELY one month before the elections for Parliament on June 25, the major political parties launched their electoral campaigns

By law, campaigning is allowed until midnight on June 23.
The number of registered parties and coalitions is 22 – a lot fewer than in other elections after the fall of communism in 1989.
According to the most recent polls, the National Movement Simeon II has 15 to 16 per cent of the votes.
In its election platform, which is themed “A Powerful Economy, High Incomes, Security for Everyone”, the NMSII promises that an average working salary will reach 500 leva by the end of its next term of office, unemployment will be less than 10 per cent, GDP will grow by eight per cent, there will be investments of 6.3 billion euro by 2009, and there will be a phased introduction of a flat tax on incomes of natural persons.
The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which according to most public opinion polls has about 25 per cent of support among voters, and has the best chance of emerging as the majority party, launched its campaign in the Universiada Hall in Sofia.
In its platform, entitled “Ten Commitments for Socially Responsible Tenure” and with the slogan “One for All, All for One”, the BSP promises a minimum and an average working salary respectively of 270 leva and 600 leva in the public sector, accelerated economic growth of six per cent in 2006 – up to eight per cent in 2009, tax-free investments, creation of at least 240 000 new jobs, and increases of the allocations for education and health care up to 5.8 per cent and six per cent of GDP, respectively.
The United Democratic Forces (UtDF) coalition, which appears likely to get less than 10 per cent of the votes, promises an annual economic growth of eight to 10 per cent, a real increase of income by 10 per cent every year, reduction of VAT to 18 per cent and cutting natural persons’ income tax by an average of five per cent.
Modernisation of education is among the key priorities of the UtDF. It says that it plans to invest five to six per cent of GDP in this sector.
The Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB), which, according to various polls, is either above or below the four per cent threshold, promised economic growth of seven to eight per cent annually, an average working wage of 600 leva and an average pension of 300 leva. According to the party, this could be achieved through alleviation of the tax burden, and putting restrictions on the state regarding the re-distribution of incomes and reduction of budget expenditures below 35 per cent of GDP.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) was scheduled to launch its campaign on May 26, after this newspaper went to press.
Novoto Vreme, which according to most polls does not have much chance of passing the four per cent threshold, promised average annual GDP growth of eight to nine per cent and reduction of unemployment to 8.5 to nine per cent. The party pledges to complete reform of the criminal justice system by November 2005 and has set out the adoption of a new Criminal Procedure Code as a priority.
As in previous years, the major parties and coalitions vied to sign up various celebrities and musicians to support them.
According to reports in some Bulgarian-language media, the grande dame of Bulgarian popular music, Lili Ivanova, who previously supported the UtDF, agreed to sing in the NMSII campaign for 60 000 euro.
Meanwhile, football star and mayor of Sliven Yordan Lechkov resigned from his position at the head of the NMSII list in the town because Prime Minister and party leader Simeon Saxe-Coburg did not include in the list any of the people Lechkov had proposed. “I am not fit for political games,” Lechkov told a news conference.
Petar Zhotev, a longtime supporter of former prime minister and current DSB leader Ivan Kostov, quit the DSB because Kostov did not give him an electable place in the Bourgas list.
Meanwhile, both the left-wing BSP and the right-wing DSB spoke against the Government decision to allocate four million leva from the state budget to encourage voters to turn out by offering a lottery with TV sets, mobile phones and other domestic equipment as prizes.
At a news conference, the DSB said that this was against the law and they would refer the matter to the Supreme Administrative Court.
BSP leader Sergei Stanishev said that using gifts to entice voters to exercise their legal right was a distortion of democracy.