In media and in society, the two main candidates in the presidential election are branded pro-Kremlin (Iliyana Yotova) and pro-EU (Andrey Gyurov). This election really boils down to one question – in which direction Bulgarians want to go and who they see as a natural partner. However, no one talks about the hidden factors.
What is not often spoken about is the decades-long propaganda, the rewriting of history and the lack of encouragement of critical thinking in schools and amongst society.
While Progressive Bulgaria and Rumen Radev are linking the opposition to neofascism and branding everyone who disagreed with them as a “troll”, countless anonymous accounts are monitoring social media and attacking everyone who dares to speak against the ruling party.
Journalists are either following Progressive Bulgaria’s PR plans, or are ostracised and talked down to. Recently Prime Minister Radev visited a village that was hit by floods and when a local woman tried to get close to him in an attempt ask questions that are of importance to the locals, she was arrested and taken away.
The prime minister and his ministers gaslight the society when caught in a lie, while brazenly spreading Kremlin propaganda on national TV. Their line of talking often sounds like a copy-paste from the speeches of Zakharova, Peskov, Lavrov and even Putin himself. Many in Bulgaria rely only on mainstream media to get their information and this propaganda is what is fed to them masked as “news”.
These are the conditions in which Bulgaria is choosing “pro-EU or pro-Kremlin”. And this will be, if Bulgarians are allowed to choose in the first place, because vote buying is not only a shameful practice in Bulgaria – it’s a reality.
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