ELECTION PREVIEW:Abject failure to tackle corruption is the main accusation against the outgoing government, writes DAN McLAUGHLIN.
COMPUTER HACKERS blocked the website of Bulgaria’s prime minister yesterday to protest at a dismal anti-corruption record that is likely to bring down his government in Sunday’s general election.
“This site is hacked by several furious but otherwise ordinary citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria,” the hackers said on the website of Socialist premier Sergei Stanishev.
“We are fed up with you plundering Bulgaria before our eyes, damaging its natural resources and discrediting the reputation of our nation . . . Disgrace is a weak word for you and your deeds.”
Polls suggest Mr Stanishev’s government will be ousted this weekend by the centre-right Gerb party led by Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov, an abrasive bodyguard-turned-politician who has vowed to clean up Bulgarian politics and crack down on rampant graft and organised crime.
Graft scandals prompted the European Union to cut €500 million in funding last year to Bulgaria, and anger at its failure to root out crime and corruption was inflamed in the run-up to the election when several suspected mafia figures were given temporary immunity from prosecution and released from custody after deciding to run for parliament.
Bulgarian law protects parliamentary candidates from prosecution for the length of the election campaign, and for the duration of their term in office if they become MPs.
President Georgi Parvanov has urged Bulgarians not to vote for suspected criminals, and a Bulgarian court yesterday froze more than €2 million of assets belonging to two such candidates. Prosecutors are also now investigating a former deputy interior minister for alleged bribery, but voters seem unlikely to back the government’s belated anti-crime efforts at the ballot box.
“You deprived Bulgarians of much-needed EU funding, which could have helped compensate for dwindling foreign investment. We have the will and the ability to correct that,” Gerb election candidate Vladislav Goranov told a Socialist rival in a televised debate this week.
Ognian Stoichkov, a member of the ultra-nationalist Ataka party, added: “Your government was a champion of murky public orders for most infrastructure projects. If we win the elections, everyone in power now will head for the Sofia prison in the course of the next year.”
Surveys suggest Gerb will secure about 30 per cent of votes, with the Socialists second on about 20 per cent and the mostly ethnic-Turkish and Muslim Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF) third with some 12 per cent. Ataka is expected to poll about 10 per cent.
If victorious, Gerb is likely to form an alliance with a group of centre-right parties called the Blue Coalition, but may still struggle to secure an overall majority, having ruled out any deal to join forces with the Socialists, the MRF or Ataka.
Voters are also concerned by Bulgaria’s slide into recession, rising unemployment and dwindling investment. Analysts say the next government will have to slash public spending and may need an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund.