president

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 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 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.

The article tracks all aspects of the presidential candidacy of Roumen Radev: the process of his nomination, campaign and performance. Subject of detailed analysis is the campaign of the candidate in its various aspects - organization, party support, financing, direct campaign, media appearances, participation in election debates. The author presents a picture of his convincing victory in the presidential elections in Bulgaria in 2016. On the background of broader economic, social, political, cultural context during the campaign and election are shown the internal factors that led to this result – the effective support by the party BSP, the personal and political qualities of the candidate, the campaign performance.

The article focuses on three dimensions of the issues related to the rule of law and the judicial system reform in the context of the presidential elections in Bulgaria in 2016: the formulation of a clear vision for future development of the judicial reform and strengthening of the rule of law in the candidate’s manifestos, the level of participation of candidates in the political and civic debate on the issues and the type of commitments expressed during the campaign. Thus the article aims to formulate a typology of campaign related positions on the basis of two dimensions – political profile of candidate and their distance to bringing the issues as priorities of the presidential institution.

The current article focuses on the foreign economic priorities of the President of Republic of Bulgaria, with particular attention to the realities and opportunities of these priorities. The research focuses on three directions of foreign economic activity. The first one covers the acceleration of the application process for membership in the Eurozone as an imperative for Bulgaria to speed up its preparations for accession to the zone of the single European currency otherwise facing the risk of falling behind in the process of decision-making in the EU. It is an obvious fact that after the «Brexit» United Europe needs a new impetus to the process of European integration in order to boost and regain the trust of European citizens in the European institutions. The second priority is the preparation of Bulgaria for a full membership in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Bulgaria currently holds the status of “guest” in the structure of the Organization therefore not being able to actively contribute to more open market economy, democratic pluralism and respect for human rights in the international economic relations. As a third accent in the foreign economic activity is pointed out a more active participation in EU’s trade policy within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which is a factor for sustainable and intelligent economic growth as well as for stimulating the Bulgarian economy.

The article deals with the history of the emergence of the vice-president institution in the Bulgarian constitutional model, the motives for its creation, as well as its functions and specifics. The position of the author is that this institution in a parliamentary system and devoid of own functions is unnecessary. The role of the vice presidential candidates in election campaigns is also being monitored.