By Rumyana Vakarelska
Bulgarian voter activity in the UK came first with 13 555 people, followed by Spain with 12 959, Germany with 9823, Greece with 4582 and Belgium with 2943. This can be explained in a few ways, but the most likely reason is their general right-of-the centre orientation (last government was left-of-the centre), as well UK’s media and political establishment reaction earlier this year to Bulgarian citizens’ right to work without restrictions in the UK and the rest of the EU from January 1, 2014.
The largest number of Bulgarian voters was in Turkey with 60 090, which resulted in a controversial and misleading outcome for the prifile of Bulgarians abroad showing that over 44 pc of those voting ouside their native country cast their bulletins for the DPS (Movement for rights and freedoms, a Turkish minority ethnic party, member of ALDE in the European Parliament, although not the same as the rest of the LibDem parties).
This data was released by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry (MFA) after voting in 58 countries closed on 6 October. A total of 131 590 Bulgarian citizens had voted in these countries, still far too short to cover 2,5 million employed abroad.
According to MFA, the rest of the votes abroad and more likely to represent Bulgarians in the UK orientation went to GERB with 27.37 per cent, Reformist Bloc with 10.89 per cent, the ultra-nationalist Patriotic Front 3.68 per cent and the BSP 2.55 per cent with small numbers of the outstanding votes to minority parties.
Copyright Rumyana Vakarelska
