A Year on the Edge of a Political Swamp

A Year on the Edge of a Political Swamp

SOFIA, 13 June (Dnevnik) – On 17 June, the
government of Simeon Saxecoburggotski marked its first anniversary
in power. [The former Bulgarian king’s party, the National Simeon
II Movement, won the parliamentary elections on that date a year
ago.] But the current opinion poll ratings indicate that either the
cabinet hasn’t done its job very successfully or even that it
stopped doing it a long time ago. According to the latest polls,
only 11 percent of the population would vote for the fake political
formation that won the elections last year and came close to an
outright majority [nearly 50 percent of the electorate].

The government of former Socialist Prime
Minister Zhan Videnov had a similar level of support – described at
the time as a “catastrophic percentage” – at the end of
1996. Public support for the consistently criticized and cursed
cabinet of Ivan Kostov [another former Bulgarian prime minister]
was around 20 percent at the end of its full mandate last year. In
light of those facts, the current administration has set a record
in terms of tearing down its own prestige and authority.

It is a bit early to say what exactly has
happened to this country’s economy over the past year. The
macroeconomic impact of this government’s policies will probably
leave a deep imprint on state budgets for generations to come. On a
micro level, however, this government’s failure to fulfill its
pre-election promises is crying out from the pockets and stomachs
of every Bulgarian. If, three years ago, public surveys found that
5 percent of the country’s population could be classified as
“rich,” 80 percent were very poor, and another 15
percent were living on the edge between poverty and stability,
today it is possible to say that those 15 percent, who were
supposed to be the new middle class of Bulgaria – a stand-by of
every stable state and democratic political system – have
definitely crossed the line and now live in complete poverty.

A lot has been said and written about how it was
that a totally unknown foreigner who calls himself king and is
difficult to communicate with managed to pull off such an election
victory, so it is meaningless to mention it again. Last year, it
was difficult to explain why he came to talk to people on their own
level while holding a republican constitution in one hand and his
hereditary crown in the other. A year later, though, it became very
clear that the so-called king is a helpless hostage of corporate
interests.

It also became clear that Simeon is actually
serving as a spring-board or some form of “padding” for
revenge-seeking and restoration-oriented circles. That’s where the
big surprise came in. The revenge-seeking and restoration were not
aimed at serving the monarchy – as most of the analysts had guessed
– they were serving the same system and orientation that was
supposed to have been rejected 13 years ago. The surprise has been
so huge that even the most educated minds in this country have been
unable to describe the phenomenon, and instead look at it as the
last spasm of a desperate populism and administrative illness.

All this, of course, is happening under the
motto: “Reconcile the nation, forget the past, and look into the
future.” The bad thing is that Bulgarians know what the past is,
but nothing is clear about the future yet. The good thing is that
the agony of the last Bulgarian hope for a miracle that could save
the country lasted for only one year. For the sake of common sense
– which was defeated last summer by those armed with dirty money
and people’s illusions – everything is over now. Finally, the
practice of self-nominating will be put to an end in Bulgaria. From
now on, not only hereditary kings but even the voters’ own children
will have to prove who they are, where they come from, and why they
think they should rule the country if they decide to take part in
politics.

Two other myths also crumbled under Simeon’s
administration. First, the myth that the partisan model of politics
is not good for the Bulgarian people, and second the myth that an
administration of “experts” could save the country. The
Saxecoburggotski cabinet is an expert cabinet, but it has done
little to prove that. All of the ministers might be experts, but
there is no unconditional proof of that. […]. Not only were they
found in the streets and cafes, but they also failed to find a
common reason for their presence in the administration aside from
that being there for the sake of that presence itself. Not one of
them has succeeded in explaining what he is actually doing in the
government. […]

As for the partisan politics model, it will
definitely be restored and will finally introduce some normality to
Bulgarian politics, in which the left and right alternate in power
according to the needs of society. The so-called centrist powers
will keep their peaceful position in the middle and will push the
state in one or another direction according to the prevailing
public mood. It is probable that the only positive result of the
Simeon Saxcoburggotski government is what it did to Bulgaria’s
leftist and rightist political forces. A good subject for a long
analysis would be to look at the previous drunkenness of one
presumptuous political class and its newly born soberness today.
The stage those leftist and rightist parties are in today could be
compared to a hangover, a very heavy one. […] At the moment, the
two biggest political players in Bulgaria – the Bulgarian Socialist
Party (BSP) and the Union of Democratic Forces (ODS) – are on their
way to full soberness. […]

All those who say that it is too early for
negative evaluations and that patience is required, because while
things are moving slowly on a national level, they are doing pretty
well on a foreign one, should be compared to the stupid wife of a
loser, who neither works, nor knows what to do, nor speaks to her,
but she still carries him on her back. And when all her relatives
advise her to get a divorce, she says: “I can’t understand why
these people want to destroy my family. My husband doesn’t drink
and never beats me!” But does a woman really need that kind of man?
Does a country really need this kind of government? […] One year
in the swamp of drying illusions is enough.

Iva Nikolova is a senior Bulgarian journalist and producer. She
currently has her own show at the Sofia-based Europe TV.

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