BULGARIA: COUNTRY GEARS UP FOR FRESH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS скачать в хорошем качестве

BULGARIA: COUNTRY GEARS UP FOR FRESH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

(17 Apr 1997) Bulgarian/English Bulgaria is gearing up for fresh parliamentary elections which are likely to put the once all-powerful Socialist Party into long-term opposition. Despite attempts by party bosses to revitalise their image, many in Bulgaria still blame the Socialists for the country's economic collapse. After forcing the government to call elections in a series of January street protests, the UDF (Union of Democratic Forces) now looks set for another taste of power. With just a few days until parliamentary elections, the Bulgarian capital Sofia is showing few signs of a political battle. Life is going on as usual and only a few campaign posters give away what seems like a secret - elections are this Saturday. This is a stark contrast to the street protests of January that eventually brought down the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party. Analysts believe that the real vote took place back then. SOUNDBITE: (English) "You know the first thing we have to know about this pre-election campaign and the elections themselves is the fact that those elections have actually happened in January. The political space has been reshaped in January. The former communists - the socialists - have lost almost entirely their influence in society" SUPER CAPTION: Ognyan Minchev, PHD Political Scientist Sofia University After former communist leader Todor Zhivkov was toppled in 1989, leading communists renamed their party the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and continued in government. The U-D-F won parliamentary elections in 1991, but lost a no-confidence vote the following year. The Socialists won the next election in 1994, but their support evaporated as the economy weakened. And unlike Bulgaria's two previous parliamentary elections, this time the question is not who will win, but by how large a majority. The political parties however are going through the motions anyway. The U-D-F - or Union of Democratic Forces - is so confident of victory that no big rallies are planned. They're campaigning on a small scale - like the opening of this footbridge in the capital Sofia, built with the help of the UDF. The Union of Democratic Forces can afford to be confident. Their only serious opponents are the Socialists who are blamed for bankrupting the country - and with it their own credibility. SOUNDBITE: (Bulgarian) "We have never been in such total economic catastrophe, and not only economic - but spiritual as well. The people have lost all faith in everything and they feel lost." SUPER CAPTION: Yevgeny Bakardjiev - spokesman for United Democratic Forces And the UDF can count on the support of Bulgaria's small but powerful private businessmen, like Boris Gavrilov. His factory produces musical equipment for export to Europe and Asia. Gavrilov also has a charity for Bulgaria's poor and distributes German humanitarian aid. He says that the socialists' interventionist approach has made doing business difficult to say the least. His recipe for future success is to free up the markets and remove the layers of burdensome bureaucracy. SOUNDBITE: (German) "The socialists are a red Mafia. And they want to possess every thing that exists in Bulgaria - they do not want privatisation and they want no foreign investment." SUPER CAPTION: Boris Gavrilov, Factory Owner The Bulgarian socialists won parliamentary elections in 1994 by portraying themselves as the party with the experience to run the country. But their reluctance to carry out vital reforms has driven the Bulgarian economy to the point of collapse. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...