Sat, Jul 04 2009
About 93 per cent of young Bulgarians want to leave the country, while half of the workforce, or about 1.5 million people, are considering emigration. This is according to a survey by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences' Centre for the Study of the Population. Forty-one per cent of those who consider themselves well-to-do want to emigrate. In the past 16 years, more than 700 000 Bulgarians have left the country. About 100 villages have been left deserted because of emigration. Analysts at the centre believe, however, that the stabilisation of the economy and improved standard of living that will result from Bulgaria joining the European Union will decrease the outflow, and may even turn it into an inflow. (Novinar)
Ataka and Order Law and Justice parties stage symbolic blockades at Bulgaria’s borders with Turkey on eve of July 5 2009 parliamentary election, while reports record influx of would-be voters and, it is claimed, flights are being chartered from Turkey.
In a blow against a problem that has been plaguing Bulgaria’s elections, State Agency for National Security and Interior Ministry say several people in a ‘major criminal organisation’ have been arrested for vote-buying, on the eve of the July 5 vote.
Barometer Info survey on July 3 2009, just ahead of the eve of Bulgaria’s national parliamentary elections, gives GERB 27.05 per cent and Sergei Stanishev’s Coalition for Bulgaria 19.09 per cent.
The exact number of people sacked from duty out of the 600 who refused to go to work on Monday is undisclosed, although reports claim that as of June 3 at least four people were told they were surplus to requirements.
Open your mind and face the unknown: the 2009 general elections in Bulgaria.