POLITICAL DIVIDENDS
The parties that were not part of the Government coalition will earn the most from the teachers strike, MBMD polling agency head Mira Yanova told Focus news agency. The vote of no confidence submitted by the opposition in Parliament might to some extent motivate right-wing voters, she said. “I think that there are many more people with rightist beliefs than there are voters for Democrats for Strong Bulgaria and the Union for Democratic Forces. Some of them will vote for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, and some of them will not vote at all,” Yanova said.

THE EXPATRIATE VOTE
Istanbul’s passport service had to open additional rooms in order to cope with the large numbers of Bulgarian emigrants applying for renewal of their temporary residence permits. The documents will enable them to travel to Bulgaria and back in order to take part in the October 28 municipal elections.

THINKING IN ADVANCE
The parties represented in Parliament, the party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and the Ministry of State Administration agreed on the order, the organisation and the conduct of news conferences at the end of election day on October 28. The first to hold a news conference will be GERB or the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), depending on the forecast results. In case the result is unclear, then the BSP will give the first news conference because it has the largest parliamentary group. Third comes the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP), the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB), Ataka party and the Bulgarian People’s Union. News conferences will start at 9.30 pm and each can continue no more than 30 minutes.