Attack of National Populism

By Velina Gospodinova, Elena Staridolska

A friendly hug between Volen Siderov, the leader of the nationalist Ataka party, and Boiko Borissov, the mayor of Sofia, made ruling parties feel nervous. Borissov has insisted that the ruling coalition and the PM Sergei Stanishev should give back 100 mln Bulgarian levs which according to the mayor had been taken from Sofia's budget. If the ruling parties yield to Borissov's political racketeering, they would be forced to conform to all his whims. If they do not take into account his demand, Borissov might enter the presidential race in the autumn and thus endanger the plans of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

No matter how different the reasons for the political disagreement with the ruling coalition are, Borissov and Siderov are on their way to achieve goals. Siderov has been the top news of the media in the last two weeks. Borissov is close to transferring the responsibility for not being able to solve Sofia's problems to the Government.

The so-called traditional political parties should not be worried about the outer expression of populist acts of Siderov and Borissov. They should be worried about the fact that the Ataka model seems successful so far. It is the politicians who have made room for the populist statements and contributed to the boom of political formations similar to Ataka.

The big question is whether the wave of new populist parties would be able to "sweep" the current political elite and to gain a stable position on the political scene in the future. An answer to the question may be given even in the autumn of this year. Borissov has hinted at the possibility to enter the presidential race but later timidly denied such plans and added that his goal was to get back the 100 mln levs sum for which Stanishev had made a promise.

A future entry of Borissov in the presidential election rivalry is the biggest threat to the second mandate of the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. A candidate from nationalist parties is considered second rival and a candidate from the rightist parties ranks third. Parvanov has recently called for a moderate nationalism which means that he would include reasonable nationalist elements in his election campaign. Borissov is to turn into a difficult problem to solve. It is likely that Parvanov would express his disapproval of Borissov's populist statements but would try to lobby for a future allocation of additional funds for Sofia's budget. Yet, that would be a temporary solution.

BSP has not a strategy of how to counter react to Ataka and a future party led by Borissov. At present, BSP does not consider them an immediate threat. The party is rather worried that Ataka members might win seats in the 2007 election for the European Parliament.

The question pending an answer is how the national populist parties would change the political society as for sure they would modify the political structure in Bulgaria.

($=1.64 Bulgarian levs)