MCC Votes & Seats Podcast – Election insight
Az MCC Politikatudományi Műhelyének beszélgetéssorozatában szakértők és politikusok segítségével azt elemezzük, hogy a különböző európai országokban aktuálisan zajló parlamenti és önkormányzati választásoknak mely szereplők a valódi nyertesei és mi tekinthető igazi győzelemnek a szavazások után.
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With the help of local guest experts, in the podcast series of the MCC Center for Political Science, we endeavor to analyze which actors are the real winners of the parliamentary elections taking place throughout Europe, and what exactly can be considered an ultimate victory after the ballot counts.
MCC Votes & Seats Podcast – Election insight
The Silence of Voters: Lessons Learnt from the 5th Consecutive Early Legislative Election in Bulgaria
Talking about the constant political crisis, our guest commentator, Dr. Katia Mihailova from the University of National and World Economy lays it down to us that Bulgaria needs new ethics to overcome the 4 year-long political agony in the country.
Looking at the election results, the political sociologist calls our attention to the unequivocal decline of the socialist and neoliberal parties in Bulgaria. This marks the downcome of the citizens’ illusions too. Dr. Mihailova explains that in exchange, parties with clear identities managed to increase their electorate (e.g. the ethnic Turkish DPS party or the anti-establishment ITN movement). The associate professor also stresses that the proportion of the nationalist electorate has reached the share of the pro-EU, pro-NATO voter base in Bulgaria. This should be seen as a warning, the analyst comments.
As for the record low turnout, according to Dr. Mihailova, the silence of voters is another flagrant exclamation mark showing that the moral, the social, and the emotional relationship between political parties and the Bulgarian citizens is broken for good. That connection has to be rebuilt in order to put an end to the constant political apathy. The way out of the crisis will not come from abroad but must be found in Bulgaria, the expert concludes.
For further mind-blowing facts and interesting theories, give a listen to our podcast on the 2024 Bulgarian snap parliamentary election.
- Katia Mihailova
Associate Professor (UNWE Department of Economic Sociology)
- Bálint L. Tóth
Researcher (MCC Center for Political Science)
With the help of guest experts and politicians, in the podcast series of MCC’s Centre for Political Science we endeavor to analyze which actors are the real winners of the parliamentary and municipal elections taking place this year in different European countries and what exactly can be considered a real victory after the ballot counts.