Александър Димитров

The reality of global risks is a condition to which humanity has adapted from the end of World War II to the present day. The state of total global war was replaced by the fear of a nuclear apocalypse. The great ideological and economic rivalry of the Cold War has been replaced by pervasive globalization, which, along with its pros, has come with many risks. The financial, economic, and humanitarian crises around the world are a clear evidence of this. Pandemics were left out of political analysis, even though the threat of a pandemic has been growingin recent years. This article analyses the changes that are taking place in the political system because of the pandemic threat. Political reaction is becoming the new reality, produced by a real risk to the population, which significantly affects its health status. This necessitates a more careful analysis of the emerging pandemic dystopia and the transformation of political reality.

The article looks at the last election campaign of GERB in its main phases – pre- paratory (preliminary), active and hot. It raises the thesis of the “preservation” campaigns of the party in the recent years. Additionally, the article explores the main actors, platform and messages of the campaign. Special attention is de- voted to the role of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in the hot phase of the cam- paign and his influence both on the attitudes of the electorate and on the overall dimension of electoral dynamics within the electoral period.

The study examines the perception of the election process of representatives of the four main groups of participants – voters, candidates for elective office, campaigners and representatives of election administration. The study consists of sixteen separate face-to-face interviews in the form of series of questions. The study was realized in a non-election environment, as interviews were conducted approximately six months after the local elections in 2015.

The article discusses the election process in Bulgaria in 2016. It is conditionally divided into two parts. The first is related to legislative changes that take place in the middle of the year, while the second examines the results of these changes that occur in the form of electoral violations and irregularities between the promulgation of the election date until the final outcome of the vote. This approach shows the existence of connection between the individual events as often irregularities in the election process are caused by changes in the electoral legislation.