Petia Gueorguieva

The article aims to address the fragmentation and the oppositions dividing the opposition in Bulgaria in the light of the parliamentary elections on April 4 2021, the “short” 45th National Assembly and the early parliamentary elections on July 11 2021. Following the mass citizens protests in 2020, all opposition parties did campaign against the incumbent party GERB and its allies and claimed to dismantle the authoritarian model of governance and to tackle the endemic corruption. This seemed to be the main common goal of the opposition. In the end, the opposition actors discovered their political immaturity and incapacity to construct a viable alternative of government. Above all, the elections in 2021 have revealed and deepened the divides amongst the opposition forces.

The present study analyses the presidential electoral campaigns of Ivaylo Kalfin, candidate supported by a coalition of parties around the party „Alternative for Bulgarian Revival“, and of Tatiana Doncheva, supported by the coalition ”Move- ment -21” and “National Movement for Stability and Progress”. Both of them are known personalities, confirmed politicians with their expertise, qualities of technocrats and with their criticism against the ramping populism and the risks of authoritarian and undemocratic tendencies. Despite their qualities and professional electoral campaigns, they didn’t’ have room to successfully challenging the strong protest antiestablishment and populist candidates at the first round of the presidential election held on November 6th 2016. Furthermore, they are positioned and known as politicians on the center and center-left where one of the main political forces – the Bulgarian Socialist Party raised and supported a candidate who have never been a politician, offered the alternative of a “new face” in politics and aggregated the protest vote against the GERB party. Voices of expertise, experience and professionalism have been muted by the populist candidates.