It is always interesting to see how political parties in opposition act when they want to attract some of the attention that the media usually gives to the party in power. Watching this in Bulgaria is even more interesting because one can never say if the current parties in opposition might become partners of the current ruling party in a next coalition government. There have been plenty of examples of that.
The most popular example is the current coalition Government formed by Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) and Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF).
The previous government was formed by just the NMSP and the MRF. In 2005, the BSP was the largest opposition party and did its best to act like one: it used every opportunity to tell people that the government was corrupt and that the BSP was the only alternative.
One of BSP’s highest moments was in the winter of 2005, five months before the elections. Choosing their time very carefully by waiting for photographers to show up for their daily duties in Parliament, BSP MPs gave NMSP ministers yellow t-shirts with a stamp of a crown on them. Yellow because it was NMSP’s party colour and a crown because the NMSP leader happened to be Bulgaria’s last king.
The reason the BSP went into the production of t-shirts was its desire to mock the NMSP’s privatisation policy. The t-shirt stunt was very well taken by photographers and got a lot of media attention.
Elections came and went and the BSP ended up in power together with the NMSP and the MRF. The t-shirts were never mentioned again and this episode of BSP business was swept under the bed.
As often happens, the BSP was to experience seeing its own know-how used against it. It was the party’s most dedicated rivals that did it: the right-wing Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB).
On April Fool’s Day this year, the DSB launched its newest product. It was a cigarette lighter. As in 2005 when the BSP chose the NMSP’s yellow, in 2008 the DSB chose the BSP’s red for its product.
Again like BSP’s t-shirts, the cigarette lighters had a stamp on them. It was the smiling face of Interior Minister Roumen Petkov. There was an inscription saying “change your cigarette lighter”, referring to Petkov’s admission that he was known as the cigarette lighter guy because he always had three or four cigarette lighters in his pocket.
Unfortunately, there are more “extreme” examples of political wittiness. In 2003, Yane Yanev’s small-numbered party BZNS put three Soviet-made military smoke bombs in the venue where 800 people were attending a meeting of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF). Yanev’s people had placed the bombs in the toilets, a police investigation found. When the powerful Soviet military- and chemical-industry productions went off, the smoke was everywhere and people had to be evacuated. TV cameras showed 800 people, among whom reporters, party leaders and supporters, jumping out of windows. Because no one was harmed, it actually looked quite amusing at the end. Hinting that he was to be blamed for the bombs, Yanev said that the smoke was a way to remind the UDF that it had failed Bulgarian people when it was in power. As one can imagine, his “reminder” was not very well taken by the UDF and its supporters. No one likes evacuation, even if it happens when a country is not at war.
Guess what? Today, Yanev is part of a coalition in Parliament where he shares a room with UDF.
