elections

This article examines the role small parties played in the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections. The aim is to test whether the results of small parties in key states have influenced the final outcome of the race. The assumption is that in the presence of marginal differences between the candidates of the main political forces, the emergence of a third and fourth candidate may be key to determining the ultimate winner.The object of the study are the major small parties in the United States, and the subject is their performance in the last two presidential elections in 2016 and 2020. The article analyzes the results of the so-called swing states – the keystates that, due to the electoral system in the United States, play a dispropor- tionate role in determining the winner. For this purpose, official election results are used, focusing on the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Flori- da and Nevada, and comparing the achievements of the Libertarian and Green parties and the difference between the main candidates for Democrats and Republicans. The positioning of the small parties in the political spectrum and the extent to which they could have harmed the electorate of the ideologically closer large parties, thus tilting the elections in one direction or another, are considered. The coverage of the results of the small parties in the mainstream media is reviewed.It is concluded that the US electoral system does not give the small parties a chance for ultimate success in the presidential election, but again, due to the specifics of the Electoral College, their slightly higher result can be interpreted as detrimental to a major political force. The question remains whether the vot- ers of the Libertarian and Green parties would actually support Republicans or Democrats, respectively, since they did not do so even in the face of growing polarization.

The parliamentary elections in April and July 2021 are unprecedented in Bulgaria since 1989. The incapacity to form a government causes new elections, which reinforce some trends from the last 2-3 years. The two main system parties experience serious crisis: GERB is beginning to lose its political hegemony, the BSP is now in third place in terms of influence. New populist party (“There is such a people”) appears in parliament, new coalition of well known parties “Democratic Bulgaria” increases its support. The question is whether these changes will be lasting, which is the topic of the article.

The purpose of the article is to summarize the results of the general elections in Bulgaria, held on 4th of April 2021 and to highlight the main reasons for these results. The main focus is on the electoral dynamics among the main parties compared to previous parliamentary elections. In the course of the text, the demographic profile of the voters of GERB, “There is such a people”, BSP, MRF and “Democratic Bulgaria” is analysed in detail. The text lists the factors and reasons for the outcome of the individual formations, as well as the main challenges facing them.

The article is positioned within the understanding of populism as a discursive practice and strategy characteristic of all political actors. Such an understanding turns the scope of the concept of populism from ideology or identity, i.e. noun (populist), which is thought and evaluated through the binary opposition populists - non-populists, into a characteristic, i.e. adjective (populist), which can be observed and measured on certain scales. The aim of the research is to apply such a framework regarding the political discourse in the days after the elections for the National Assembly from 4 April 2021.

The crisis in 2020, as any crisis, brought many problems but also created opportunities in various areas of human life. In the field of politics, the crisis provided different opportunities for oppositional political actors in Bulgaria to be an alternative to the government, which is incapable of dealing with the biggest social problems, multiplied by the crisis. Chances, however, must be “caught”. If the opposition is not able to make the right decisions in the context of contemporary events, it will lose that political game undoubtedly. Even if, the opposition has all the necessary qualities and the necessary circumstances are there, the essence is contained in the right and prompt decisions.

The text introduces to the expert positions and opinions of Transparency International – Bulgaria, the national representation of the international anticorruption organization Transparency International regarding bills addressing the issues of financing political activities and holding elections in Bulgaria.

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 presidential elections of 2016 produced a new situation in Bulgarian politics, but did not change substantially the Bulgarian party system. The victory of the non-partisan candidate proposed by the BSP and the failure of the candidate of the ruling party was unexpected and was significant for the “depolitization” of the society. Citizens in Bulgaria expressed their limited support for the main parties, looking for a candidate who has not previous partisan career. This seems to be a sign for more serious civic disaffection from the existing parties.