Bulgaria Election: How a Brand New Anti-Corruption Party Won - TLDR News

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Last weekend Bulgaria held national elections, and a somewhat surprising result emerged in the following hours. A brand new, anti-corruption party had swept their way to victory beating out the establishment candidates. So in this video we're going to explain what happened in the election and discuss if this means change and progress is in the future for Bulgaria.
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[@marvinafonso7713]

"he ran on an anti corruption platform, but ended up being pretty corrupt" i have yet to see that not happening to any "anti corruption" candidate anywhere 😂

[@ristekostadinov2820]

On the Balkan you are either running on Nationalist platform or "anti corruption" platform.

[@MatanVil]

Similar things can be said about newcomers/"outsiders" that say "we are not like those old politicians" that end up being more of the same like Macron or Yair Lapid

[@ryankahler2034]

Brazil had two presidents like that, one elected by the most *right wing* party, prohibited the bikini, many luck games, chicken fights, gave *CHE GUEVARA* the HIGHEST Brazilian medal and left the job after about 6 months… the second one is Bolsonaro…

[@nvizible]

@@ryankahler2034 that che guevara part is based as fuck

[@ryankahler2034]

@@nvizible if you’re not Brazilian, I highly recommend researching about Jânio Quadros, a very “interesting” man indeed… however, I don’t know how much information about him is easily accessible in English

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

The guy wasted his large win and went down…

[@kalinsimovski5081]

Don't listen to purple heart, he was dependent on populist tactics,one huge ego and lack of internal control in his party. You can't just waltz into parlament and fix the world, it's hard work and compromise.

[@kalinsimovski5081]

@Purple Hearth there is no evidence of ITN being dependent on so called "status quo forces". I mean no offense to you personally.

[@kalinsimovski5081]

@Purple Hearth They made the rest of the anti-coruption parties their enemies from very early on. Is it really so strange they tend to vote against what these parties prefer? I mean ,some members of ITN still bitch and moan about the others, just like GERB does. Is that evidence of a behind-the-scenes shadow puppet master ? No. Let's think about this-If that was the case we would see a lot more coordination then just voting the same way. For god's sake, their leader doesn't seem to control what the party ends up doing, let alone some other guy. Are they pro vaccine or antivax? Do they want a coalition or no? Will they work with the new party or is Kiril Petkov a criminal? You get different answers from different higher up members of ITN. It's chaotic bulshit not organized control.

[@kalinsimovski5081]

@Purple Hearth everyone in bg can be linked to the underground. Or the former state security apparatus, or the communist party. I myself can be linked to all three and you wouldn't even have to dig hard. By that logic I'm also "financed" and part of the plot. This means nothing without more evidence of an actual conspiracy.

[@kalinsimovski5081]

@Purple Hearth I think I'm done here, but I really want you to know Im not here to tell you want to think. It's up to you and you don't have to believe me. However mark my words: the ITN stuff is just the typical pre election "scandal". Now that it's over no one will mention it.

[@antifasupport4840]

I was so shocked by the results. I'm still processing the changes and now I feel a bit hopeful. Can't wait to see what my country will turn into.

[@deepmeyt]

Username checks out

[@ahsanshahzad3018]

Hoping for the best for your country.

[@pickymoose8238]

I hope the best for Bulgaria also, because you guys have a lot of potential in you. Greetings from Lithuania.

[@KaiserHanstedt]

Are Bulgarians generaly pro communist/Ussr?

[@reiudfgq3vrh34ur]

@@KaiserHanstedt ussr ruined their country ofcourse they are anti comunist like the most left wing group is the socialist party and they more center left

[@Boris-ui8sk]

I'm bulgarian, I'm surprised someone covered our election

[@danistanneveld880]

You are an European brother🇪🇺

[@97Corvi]

🇪🇺 we are under the same EU 🇪🇺

[@julianshepherd2038]

Tbh, its not a good sign

[@bobenchorben]

same surprise here. interesting to see how we are viewed outside. quite an accurate depiction of things here from all said IMO.

[@fallendown8828]

Your election matters just like everyone else in the EU and the world

[@BalkanRedneck]

My grandfather had a saying "Call him a "politician" and don't insult him any further." We'll see if these boys can turn things around.

[@randomname5338]

mine too :D

[@cx5307]

I've seen too many anti-corruption parties around the world that did not really want to end corruption but to divert the money for themselves. Let's hope it's different in Bulgaria. Corruption is one of the hardest things to get rid of, even harder than unemployment or inflation. And Corruption is killing your Economy. Bulgaria has a lot of potential.

[@meetu_]

You don't wanna get rid of inflation. You actually need around 3% of inflation yearly to be considered a "growing healthy economy". So I think you mean hyperinflation!

[@functhefucc5798]

Corruption is a Power system. Those who aren't corrupt, won't get elected. That being said, apparently the majority of Bulgarians really don't want to be corrupt.

[@AA-bi7pw]

These "new" (with old people) parties which are fighting to end the corruption are talking nonsense or they are lying. They will never stop the corruption or the influence from other coutries. It can be seen in today's elections 40% of the votes abroad are for the MRF (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) or ДПС (in bulgarian) or the Turkish party in Bulgaria which was caught violates the constitution by campaigning in Turkish but everybody is ignoring this. We have problems with agricultural subsidies because there are people who take them and produce nothing. We have power plants who keep reserves and people get crazy money for just having them. We have the worst heathcare system in EU and we are in first place in covid deaths from "todays issue" and they are shooting the justification with you know what is the only way if you look in Italy USA and Australia, because we are the worst. I showed you only two economic, one political and one social problems but its not over, there are even more.

[@HahaDamn]

They also are inevitably right wing

[@vladislavvalev8186]

I know, my buddy. If our politicians weren't corrupt, we would be in the top 20 richest countries.

[@Georgije2]

This sounds a bit similar to Slovenia, we usually prefer parties that are founded just before the election over parties that have already turned out to be corrupt.

[@kennethkho7165]

that's how it should be in all countries. weird how britons keep voting sleazy tories into parliament.

[@juliantsenkov1585]

It's typical we Bulgarians to vote for new found parties and new leaders who promise a lot of things. But it's always end bad for us.

[@marpagapal3312]

It's allways best the corrupts we don't know than the ones we know already. But I find very little parallel between Slovenia and Bulgaria...

[@LjuboCupic1912]

@@marpagapal3312 honestly, I agree, Slovenia is far from perfect on the corruption front, but it’s definitely not as bad as Bulgaria.

[@twojstarypijany3182]

Similar thing happened in Poland, but on smaller scale. The Confederacy party, despite being lead by conservative, rambling oldman, got seats in the parlament. The party program focuses on ecenomic policies instead of ideological ones, like lgbt, church and all of that crap. There can be also seen a trend where the most memable person/party gains some favor in the eyes of voters.

[@Rodzyniastyyyy]

Fingers crossed for this beatiful country. Much love from PL.

[@tisho91]

Thanks! :)

[@viktormilushev4293]

Respect

[@alexanderpetrov8945]

благодаря!

[@RafaelW8]

Polak Bulgar dva bratanki?

[@kosinusify]

TLDR: "A lack of a functioning government is bad news in good times." Belgium: What do you mean?

[@dodko1st]

The Bulgarian constitution doesn't allow parliament to function properly without elected government. The top three parties has 14 day to form a government and if all 3 try fail a snap election is called. This year we have two parliaments which worked for no longer than 2 months and in this challenging year is very difficult for the interim governments to function, because most of the decision is voted by the parliament.

[@frederikjrgensen252]

@@dodko1st If Israel can find a way out the endless election cycle. Then Bulgaria might also be able to.

[@diegoparrillo8517]

Gotta mention it, Volt, the pan European party gained a seat in the parliament of Bulgaria being the European party to have representatives in the parliament of 2 EU member states

[@lavadax2]

💜

[@freetime5803]

Volt... ew

[@narutomgm]

It's actually the winner of this election with 25% since Petkov used their party registration in order to run for parliament, yet only one of the 70 seats a for a representative of the Volt party

[@baymarin4456]

That's because WCC used their registration in order to participate in the elections. I doubt that the people who voted for Volt would be enough to push it above the 4% lower limit, if Volt were to participate unaided

[@narutomgm]

@@baymarin4456 I don't think Volt has 0.1% of the vote on it own

[@tonjoubasara5259]

I am Bulgarian and let me tell you, it's been pretty rough here when you combine everything that has happened in the last few years: from corrupt governments ruling the country for decades, to a huge percentage of people living below the poverty line, to the Covid-19 pandemic, to the increase in energy prices and so on. It's has painted a pretty grim picture of what is to come, but I personally do see a light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully it's real and not some sort of illusion.

[@gtfo2096]

Same situation with greece neighbour, hopelessness :(

[@dimitarivanovski6322]

Yea, it remains to be seen what, if anything, will come out of it. The biggest problem is that people have both learned to be helpless (just going along with whatever corrupt schemes the government and their friends come up with), and became too lazy and cowardly to raise their heads and demand change. You saw the turnout ... hell, a lot of my friends are coming up with all sort of stupid excuses to not spend an hour and cast their vote - then complain how bad things are.

[@DacLMK]

Well at least you're in the EU, unlike your brothers in the south-west that are not and struggle even more.

[@purik026]

@@dimitarivanovski6322 I completely agree. Democracy stands on the shoulders of the belief for a better future. When the people get disillusioned and learn to dwell in their misery and apathy change for the better us impossible. I hope more younger people will try to make a change but as things stand currently there doesn't seem to be an end to this cultural shift anytime soon.

[@kris.yochev]

@@dimitarivanovski6322 In these times it's even better if you go to the polls and vote. I am a bulgarian and 2 months ago I moved to the UK for uni but still went and participated in the election, even though that meant an hours journey to the polls (the only one they set up in my city was on the other side of town) and a bit more paperwork at the polls. Really, no one has a good excuse for not participating in elections other than maybe some illness or the likes.

[@Martoto94]

For those wondering, the main reason for GERB doing so well, in spite of all the graft, is the fact that Borisov increased the size of the state administration to dimensions not even seen during the period of communist rule, when the bureaucracy was much more ubiquitous and served a couple million more people than live in Bulgaria today. Borisov then raised salaries and increased benefits for all these workers in the bureaucracy creating a cohort of loyal voters who are often even bussed to the polling stations by party reps. So, if he didn’t have this loyal cohort he’d probably struggle to get over 10% at best.

[@bastiaanvanhoorn6306]

and that in combination with a low turnout

[@planed1978]

Sounds very familiar…yeah, I’m talking about you mr. Putin! Except Bulgaria doesn’t have the natural resources Russia has, so next good thing is the EU money.

[@kaparg]

So he's a leftist who buys his voters in exchange for trashing the future? Great...

[@igordimitrov281]

I'm Bulgarian and the main reason Borisov to be prime Minister for so long is the support from the leaders of the EU and the collaboration in the European Parliament with his GERB, through the years, no matter of the multiple signals for stealing from the euro funds send to Bulgaria, nor all the available information for control and pressure against the media's in Bulgaria, achieved by the net of payed or forced "supporters".

[@tisho91]

True and that was done by his lackey Tzvetanov. Now that Tzvetanov's been out of the picture due to the scandal with the apartments support has been declining. And maybe finally *some* Bulgarians have opened their eyes before casting their vote on election day. GERB single-handedly helped DPS to continue the dismay of democracy and what was worse was that both parties are backed by the EU - renew Europe and the EPP and so they get the funds.

[@disillusionedrightest7313]

This seems sketchy as hell. A party with no polices other than "anti-coruption"? If I were Bulgarian I would demand complete transparency.

[@HoukaiBG]

Being smart was never one of Bulgarians defining characteristics. Trust me, I am a Bulgarian.

[@DacLMK]

The Balkan functions differently sadly. Our political parties are basically cults at this point. I'm from N.Macedonia, and our cult political party duopoly will never go away if this mentality stays.

[@nikolanikolov866]

Every party has a programme. It's not just "anti-corruption". Sadly almost nobody reads the programme and just votes by emotion and some slogans like "anti-corruption". It's a common thing in the Balkans...

[@stoyanzhelyazkov6865]

Now all policy discussions among the coalition partners are streamed online. Cannot think of a more transparent country on that regard. They also had a program that was much clearer than the other parties

[@dsdf5857]

If you were a Bulgarian no one would give a shit

[@baul997]

All the best wishes too the Bulgarian people from Germany

[@TheTrueMacedonian]

As a Macedonian i hope Bulgaria improves and that corruption declines and that one day our people will have the same good relations as for example Sweden and Denmark.

[@diempyl2165]

I hope TLDR makes video explaining Macedonian elections and politics in the future :33

[@Skiringen]

As a Swede I find this example incredibly funny. Swedes and Danes have fought so so many wars. Today we still hate each other, but it's purely ironic. Our languages are mutually intelligible (somewhat at least), and we are pretty close to being one people. That being said I really hope the situation improves and that your peoples relations will be great. A good day to you!

[@zodiaoven]

It's up to your government in this case. We are very open to good relations with the rest of the Bulgarians living abroad. After all, we are all the same blood.

[@C_j21]

Macedonians are greeks.

[@TheTrueMacedonian]

@@zodiaoven What the countries in the southern balkans needs is more economic development, less corruption and a focus on the future, not the past. It's okay to dissagree about history, it's a complex and biased subject however it shouldn't hinder countries with set borders from joining organizations like the EU. Once again, look at the Nordic countries, they do not agree on everything historically but still they set that aside and agree to disagree and cooperate on economic development in favor of their people. Macedonians do not consider themselves Bulgarian and that won't change. Is it really worth hindering both your own and your neighbors development for an argument based around self identification?

[@samueltrusik3251]

Hopefully, the new government is stable, and will do something about the numerous problems. Seems like it might. Good luck!

[@danailgeorgiev3241]

TV starts seem to be popular leader candidates even in the USA apparently

[@CCCP_Again]

As a Personal experience of an "anti-corruption" government, they are everything except anti-corruption 🤣🤣

[@bojidaralexandrov2113]

honestly this is what I, as a Bulgarian, am worried about

[@stranjata5410]

Only time will show

[@milantoth6246]

i personally have a different experience. In hungary, we have mayoral experience only but in those cases the anti corruption mayors uncovered huge multiparty corruption cases, sometimes even including the party they were the member of.

[@stranjata5410]

Yeah, shouldn't compare two different governments in 2 completely different countries.

[@CCCP_Again]

@@stranjata5410 not just two countries my guy, if you look for such parties who reach to powerful positions you will be convinced of the innate hypocrisy of such ppl

[@lokhimtam7933]

Interestingly, Volt Bulgaria, previously introduced in another TLDR video, is part of the We Continue the Change electoral alliance, and was allocated one seat after the victory

[@mjferroni]

N now if they digitalize the shit out of the massive burocratic organ Boykov created, like VOLT in nearly all EU countries wants too… we can have some god damn transperency

[@tisho91]

@@mjferroni seriously doubt that. Nastimir Ananiev is known for changing political parties like diapers and to lobby for GERB during his tenure in the RB coalition which was quickly dismantled when they failed to do the necessary reforms for which they all vowed back in 2014.

[@mjferroni]

@@tisho91 I said if…. it’s just inspiring wishful thinking…

[@donnaduffy5353]

Wish the new government well and hope it is better than the last

[@Grainsworth]

Same here

[@donnaduffy5353]

@@Grainsworth At least it shouldn't do much worse

[@franciscosousa9753]

As a Portuguese living in Varna, l think these are very good news! Without the toxic corruption Bulgaria has every conditions to become, in a very near future, a very rich country! By the way, corruption costs to Portugal 30 billion euros every year!!!!!

[@Z7aRk]

Indeed, Bulgaria is a country with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, many of the young people have run away from the country, chasing opportunities and a higher standard of living all over the world. We have truly lost close to a million of our most ambitious and brightest people. The good news is that every time I return home, I see people who are also very capable and willing to work for making their country a better place. Unfortunately, the corruption has created widespread cynicism and apathy towards the political process, which is truly detrimental to a democratic society. Crossing my fingers that a new coalition that wants to implement a real change has truly been built. However, be aware that if these people truly attack the mafia that has captured the state, I wouldn't be surprised if criminals are used to scare, intimidate and even harm people at the helm. The fight has only begun!

[@sandroribeiro7644]

Como é viver na Bulgária? Achas que se tudo continuar assim a Bulgária poderá ultrapassar Portugal até 2030?

[@honeyheart8215]

@@Z7aRk Many are returning home however. My mother is part of a Facebook group of Bulgarian returnees, and a few weeks ago fifty young families with children from Canada, returned to Bulgaria to live I villages. Soon, my family is hoping to return too.

[@berkcan8861]

@@Z7aRk Same here I wanna return one day

[@marciocarvalho577]

Também estou algo esperançoso em relação a Portugal. Todos os governos têm o seu momento de desgaste ou contestação, se até o cavaquismo ou o Estado Novo tiveram. Veremos o que acontece dia 30 de janeiro. Podíamos e devíamos ser um país um pouco melhor.

[@vasilkrastenov3903]

It might be important to mention that the leader of the Socialist Party, aswell as the leaders of the three sub-parties that form Democratic Bulgaria, resigned following the election, due to the surprisingly poor results both parties recieved. Last time out in June this year the Socialists were third with 13.39% and DB were fourth with 12.64% (also important to keep in mind the Socialists had 27.93% in 2017, before There is Such a People and DB were created when they were the only real opposition to GERB). This time however they recieved only 10.21% and 6.37% respectively, possibly due to the low turnout. It still hasn't been announced who is going to lead these parties from now on

[@stefankatsarov5806]

I think many socialists just when to the new parties, since they are very left too and are new.

[@alexandergeorgiev2779]

Namerihme pedala

[@seluland]

Update to this comment: they simply got re-elected.

[@user-ip6th9bm8q]

As a Bulgarian and a resident of the poorest country in the EU, as a ship engineer (650 euros salary), as a father of two children, I expect this party to provide financial stability for every average Bulgarian. To live normally as a family of 4, we need a minimum of 1000 euros per month. We are struggling with 650.

[@danistanneveld880]

I was in September in Sofia, a lot of protest about anti corruption and they said they couldnt vorm a government.

[@TheSlashd0t]

Yeah, the former government(s) were just lining their pockets with tax money and did nothing to improve living standards for the average working Bulgarian and pensioners. Glad they've lost any majority.

[@infinityz7134]

Bulgaria really said “third time’s the charm” and just had another election didn’t they?

[@dsdf5857]

More like 7th, cuz the mandate is given 3 times after election

[@DeyanIliev-mi9zq]

As a Bulgarian I appreciate you guys covering the chaos that our elections and political situation is. Who knows these new fellas might do something to turn the country around or fall to greed as the rest before them.

[@lilialang7983]

Whoever made this video has astounding misunderstanding of the situation in Bulgaria! Through a series of elections in Bulgaria, the President Radev, who is also an army general, carried out a coup. The party of Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev is a presidential project that was imposed with a large media campaign and a huge amount of money, as well as with a change in the electoral process to ensure a secure victory of his parties, which you extremely wrongly call anti-corruption. Slavi Trifonov deliberately did not want to form a coalition. He had an agreement with the President not to form a government so that the President could get to a caretaker cabinet - led solely by him. The office under the constitution is supposed to organize the next elections, but Radev's office has carried out a large-scale replacement of all senior government posts in the country, police, intelligence, shifts of supervisory boards and boards of directors of banks, municipal councillors and even the bosses of large-scale hospitals. Check all my comment above!

[@randomname5338]

They were members of the provisional governemnt and they displayed something we were yearning for : Professionalism , however low turnout really shocked me / angered me . Hope is something that can die out and we must strive to invite more of our peoples to vote .

[@s.v.berezin1562]

In what regard professionalism? That they crippled the state apparatus by firing almost everyone in the civil service and replaced them with their own people?

[@godsgift565]

@@s.v.berezin1562 The state apparatus was crippled even before them. Self-serving administrators made the mere living in the country a living hell for many people. So good riddance if you ask me.

[@svetliodoychinov5580]

Only reason I personally did no vote and many of my friends didn’t in the last vote is the fact I was simply fed up with elections by then. After two failed ones I just did not feel like moving my ass just for another one to fail.

[@martintancer7723]

Well I would not call Bulgaria a "very poor country"... these are countries like DR Congo or Afghanistan, Bulgaria may have its problems, but overall it is still far better for living than a majority of the countries of the world

[@johnybazukata]

Thank you for this video, as a Bulgarian ex-pat, it's often difficult for me to follow news in my home country (don't have much time for TV either). I'm glad I managed to vote, even though I'm abroad. Yes, the turn-out is low, but I feel Democracy will prevail - the people need to be heard. Please keep-up the good work! With love.

[@KevinValdivias]

Where did you vote from abroad? Im bulgarian girl who also live's abroad but I didn't know that's an option, pls share some info thank you.

[@pierremuller3652]

Thanks for bringing up news from all over Europe !

[@lilialang7983]

Very poor presenting of the real situation in Bulgaria. What really happened is a that the oligarch helped the President Radev, who is also an army general, to carry out a coup. The party of Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev is a presidential project that was imposed with a large media campaign and a huge amount of money, as well as with a change in the electoral process, including police harassment of any one who opposes President Radev and his project) to ensure a secure victory of his parties.

[@vlads3283]

This is not the first time I've heard a story like this. I'll hold my breath on something new actually happening.

[@markoberberovic2016]

the last thing all Croats want is that Bulgaria levels down its corruption. If that happens, Croatia will take the first spot on the list :P

[@arbendit4348]

Nah, it would probably be Romania

[@theressamurphy2996]

Thank you for the news of Bulgaria

[@MaoThe1st]

One correction - we've had a functioning government throughout that period. The president has appointed interim governments twice, which function in the exact same say as a regular government. So it would be more correct to say we haven't had an elected government and our legislature as been on and off again for some time now. Funny enough, a lot of people were so happy with the interim government, that they were ok with the whole political crisis prolonging just so they can be in power a bit longer :D. However, it has to come to an end and for things to start getting a semblance of normality.

[@lilialang7983]

Пълно неразбиране на ситуацията в България. Със серия от избори и служебния кабинет бе извършен преврат. Изборния закон е обратното на прозрачен и демократичен. На три места в София се оказа , че ПП имат между 60 и 80 повече гласове в машинния протокол от преброените разписки и то самов полза на ПП! Но тъй като приеха, че протокола е водещ, дори и в съда не може да се докаже че изборите са манипулирани. В момента всички олигарси и мафиоти твърдо застанаха за Радев и ПП!

[@toshkokanzas]

@@lilialang7983 а по хубаво ли щеше да е пак тиквата да бъде избран? Още малко евра да си открадне, още някоя виличка да си вдигне, а пък държавата кучетата я яли

[@lilialang7983]

@@toshkokanzas Ами по-хубаво щеше да е! А сега какво става, вашия възлюбен Рашков има 19 имота, каквито и боса на италиянската мафия няма, Василев трупа парички да се разплаща с кредиторите си за фалиралата във Великобритания фирма. За 9 дни този кабинет изхарчи 9 милиарда лева и никой не знае за какво , а и те нали уж са прозрачни , но мълчат като комунисти на разпит. Законите и конституцията са погазени, парламентаризма е унищожен! А за парите на Борисов, дали са откраднати, чакам все пак да се докаже от някой независим съд. Държавата я изядоха олигарсите около Радев!

[@deqnvelkovsky5619]

Thanks for covering our election and as always great video.

[@TheImmortalBukkit]

Thank you for the hard work

[@haidouk872]

Learned about it on monday, and I wanna believe that this will finally be the time for Bulgaria's comeback! I'm not Bulgarian myself, but I have a strong love for the country, having lived almost a year in Sofia. I made many great friends there, young people like me. But too often, when talking about Bulgarian politics and hopes for changes, I would hear "nothing will ever change here", "Corruption will never go away", "Things cannot be fixed here". And it has always saddened me deeply to see all this complete resignation from a lot of young bulgarians, the generation who is supposed to carry the future and hope. But decades of corruption had broken the dreams of the young generation, those who never got to know the former communist era, encouraging them to live a country they love but see not future in. And now, I really wanna believe that this will prove them wrong, and that this new party will not mess up. The leading party now has a huge responsability: not only it must remain true to its oath to fight corruption, but it must also make a whole population regain faith in their politics, so that they can finally believe that things can change. Хайде България! Можеш да бориш се с корупцията и въвря към прекрасно бъдеще. Аз вярвам с теб и ти дам много любов от Франсия :) (Извинете ако има грешки, моят Булгарски не е супер добре хахаха)

[@TzvetozarCherkezov]

Thank you for the kind words. Your Bulgarian is very good. Some small errors, but you'd be understood absolutely everywhere in the country.

[@haidouk872]

@@TzvetozarCherkezov Thank you my friend :) I'm looking forward to come back once again to Bulgaria, I still haven't had the chance to do the 7 Rila Lakes hike! And hopefully next time I come, there will be already progresses regarding Corruption! :)

[@user-rc8xc6yx8h]

Idk who you are and what person you are. However I just gonna say that I'm a huge fan

[@lilialang7983]

Whoever made this video has astounding misunderstanding of the situation in Bulgaria! Through a series of elections in Bulgaria, the President Radev, who is also an army general, carried out a coup. The party of Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev is a presidential project that was imposed with a large media campaign and a huge amount of money, as well as with a change in the electoral process to ensure a secure victory of his parties, which you extremely wrongly call anti-corruption. Slavi Trifonov deliberately did not want to form a coalition. He had an agreement with the President not to form a government so that the President could get to a caretaker cabinet - led solely by him. The office under the constitution is supposed to organize the next elections, but Radev's office has carried out a large-scale replacement of all senior government posts in the country, police, intelligence, shifts of supervisory boards and boards of directors of banks, municipal councillors and even the bosses of large-scale hospitals. Check all my comment above!

[@talisikid1618]

What relevance does “young people” have?

[@hellfiremaster3502]

What a great and informative video during the elections in the country is was born in. I was waiting for a translated and explained video about the elections and here it is! Let’s hope that corruption and every other problem ends soon, good luck from England.

[@OMGWTFBBQLMAOLOL]

Nice update on this, you guys are actually very awake

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

As an American viewer (who is interested in politics) I was hearing of the news a few days ago, and I found it quite interesting! Subscribed! Also, I hope Bulgarians don't have to vote in elections in February 2022 or something!

[@mateyp3365]

It'll probably be in May, it's warmer =)

[@varsam]

Ou next year there will be another vote for sure. They cant get togetherm GERB is german party made whit german money and german suport. BSP(socialists) and Democratic Bulgaria are controled and sponsored by USA. DPS is Turkish(the 3rd). So in the end those cant coexist, outhers cant make a stable coalition.

[@rosentihomirov1952]

Thanks for covering the election. Appreciate how hard is to pronounce the names.

[@mihailrangelov8343]

Pretty accurate coverage of the political situation. Thank you!

[@user-gk9pl6vl5v]

I told about that coverage to my mom, that doesn't speak english. Thank you, we feel left out from foreign media!

[@arp_2]

Cautiously optimistic sums it up :)

[@user-pd6bd7ir4z]

i think the “Bulgaria is a very poor country” is relative. In the European Union sphere , sure it is. But compared to most of the world… Bulgaria does in fact have higher per capita GDP and income than South Africa (the so called “richest country in africa” -- than again no point to make such a comparison). At the end of the day, Bulgaria is the poorest EU state with a lot of people having left. Corrution is one of the reason why it’s not growing properly as well

[@kaybeebee1]

This gives hope that Bulgaria will achieve it's potential, it's a beautiful country with (majority) good people, good wine, food, climate and a rich history and culture. Hopefully the people aren't let down yet again and Kiril Petkov delivers...Good luck!

[@user-ij7fy3fn4n]

I was waiting for this vid

[@KhaalixD]

Great video!

[@xser4321]

I love how you spelled the name Asen - Assen... laughed my ass off lololol

[@igordimitrov281]

Very accurate information. Now Bulgaria is holding the record for the most elections in a shortest time, because on 14 November there was Presidential vote too, and next Sunday is the second round. So 3 elections for Parliament and 2 for President since April 2021.

[@neonbunnies9596]

There sure are a lot of "anti-corruption" parties in Bulgaria

[@mateyp3365]

In Bulgaria there are a lot of other labels to the parties, tldr it's ok to call them anti-corruption, but the fuller picture is more complicated

[@StefanGenov7]

Well explained.

[@zamf]

I actually said "third time's the charm" after voting in the latest elections :)

[@catninja4950]

Finally, a good fucking party.

[@karakabum5700]

We continue the change is our only hope

[@sebastianboeddinghaus3505]

Living in South Africa I am taking note

[@czubryca_odkrywa]

Hope for Bulgaria! Such a beautiful country with so delicious cuisine and amazing landscape and so interesting history deserves to be run by the smart people which are there I believe just need a little bit of faith!

[@ska187]

The anti-anti-anti corruption party will surely get it right this time

[@coolmanfight1827]

Denmark have local elections yesterday tuesday november 16th.

[@tisho91]

Bulgarian here. Thanks for the good video coverage of the situation trying to keep it neutral, unbiased and as objective as possible. Skeptical about the new guys, because they were ministers from the President's interim cabinet. The President (Radev) is a proactive lobbyist for Russian interests, he was backed by the BSP in the previous presidential elections. He was also running for President this time so it was elections 2 in 1 - the first time this ever happened. They also vowed to support Radev on the second round this week which is something to note here. "We continue the change" (or PP) also whilst expressing their good will to fight corruption don't really have red lines to cabinet lobbyists such as the DPS which are the single most problematic when we come to tackling corruption. What currently is going on is very similar to the late 90s and especially 2001 with the return of Simeon Sax-co-Burg-Gotha (the last descendent of the Monarch King Boris III before Communist times). At that time such promises were made once again. Then Borissov when he came into power, made the same promises and so on. So it's basically the same thing happening over and over and people are already tired and so "cautious optimism" is really the best way to put it. And no, I didn't vote for GERB as they have to go together with DPS for good as do the communists and neonazi nationalists...

[@s.v.berezin1562]

I share your skepticism, but wonder in what way Radev supports Russian interests. He studied at West Point and was instrumental in sealing the scandalous deal for the American jets (most expensive and least useful). Moreover, the protests that were supported by his party and DB were funded by the US (by their own admission).

[@tisho91]

@@s.v.berezin1562 I wonder how did the US fund (and have admitted to!) civil anti-government protests against the center-right GERB whom they have backed up for more than a decade in terms of foreign affairs despite the critical reports. Radev is pro-Russian in almost every aspect. Both times when he was able to resolve the deadlock the last 2 elections he gave the option for the Socialist Party to create a cabinet instead of the other GERB-opposition parties. He showed support for Russia during the occupation of Crimea, was the only EU president to do so. He never criticized communism publicly, never commemorated any victim of communism. Never supported completely any outside affairs we have with the EU, allowed planes to fly from Russia to Serbia without any permission violating the agreements we have with NATO, didn't support the deal with American planes, for years allowed Rosenetz to be annexed by Ahmed Dogan like an exclave of a different country without access and to be unreachable by journalists and the general public. He did sign the papers for the Chief Prosecutor Geshev to be hired as such and only after Geshev attacked the Presidency did he start to protest against him and to express his desire for Geshev's resignation.... Never publicly supported Bulgaria's much needed deeper integration into the EU and NATO or backed any bill which could help us move forward.... Need to go any further?

[@pog519]

@@tisho91 I don't really agree with like half his views, that's for sure. But he kind-a killed Borisov and that alone makes him the best president we've ever had :D

[@sashundera91]

Update: PP, BSP, DB and ITN formed an coalition 2 weeks ago and Kiril Petkov is the new Prime Minister.

[@jesperverbruggen587]

After the Netherlands , Bulgaria also has Volt in the parliament !

[@user-hl7bw8yw7n]

You forgot to mention the DPS - the third largest party. They claim to represent ethnic minorities, but in reality they only serve the interests of the oligarchs. The last big protests in the summer of 2020 started because of the DPS - it was discovered that their leader had built himself an enormous mansion by the Black sea in an area designated as a nature reserve, with the money for it probably having come from the Russian oil-giant Lukoil, who have an oil refinery just besides the mansion. Also, one of their highest-ranking members is an international criminal oligarch who, due to being sanctioned by the US, can't own a bank account or step on American soil, among other things. He just got elected as a deputy, which will grant him immunity, therefore he will become much harder to prosecute. Which is a bit sad, honestly.

[@berkcan8861]

I dont think Muslim Minorities are well educated upon what is DPS realy doing.They're just voting for them because what happened in communist times.

[@gyurhanaziz7676]

Thanks for covering my country.

[@vasil.kamdzhalov]

The best explanation for all the 3 votes and reasons. Good job.

[@10socialcreditscore63]

Finaly some good news, I'm not even from BG but I hope only the best for you all with the new gov!

[@G.Giorgio]

Striving for no corruption sounds like a good start! Let's go :)

[@wentro1]

Thank you for the nice video! I have to note that you haven't made any comment on the third party in the election with 13% of the vote: DPS (movement for rights and freedoms) famous for making a person on the USA Magnitsky blacklist a MP with full immunity against prosecution. Also this party received 82.000 votes from Turkey with raging election violations, provoking the Turkish state media to anaunce this party's presidential candidate as the "Turkish presidential cantdidate for Bulgaria". It's a really interesting topic to get into. Just a friendly advice!

[@tisho91]

Пак добре, че и толкова отразиха. По принцип хич ги няма в детайлното вглеждане на нещата, затова са и TLDR. Дълги години преди изборите тази година нашата държава хич не им беше интересна на тези младоци.

[@S.Solmazturk]

I voted DPS. What's wrong with people voting from abroad? I heard no violations. At this rate they will reach 20% when ethnic Bulgarians grew tired of voting.

[@tisho91]

@@S.Solmazturk By voting for DPS you voted for the destruction of the Bulgarian democracy, economy, agriculture and energetics and also the destruction of the Bulgarian villages. You also voted for fund-suckers that provide high levels of corruption, feodalism and concentration of power onto oligarchs like Peevski who destroy pluralism and well the overall destruction of our country as we know it. And no wonder this triggers the "patriots" who are usually paid by DPS to bring ratings up on both sides with their dirty money below the table. I have no issue with people voting from abroad. They have their right and I respect their will to do so. But I do have issue with voters for BSP, DPS, GERB and Vazrazhdane. For 30 years Ahmed Dogan has been Bulgaria's curse which we cannot get rid of as we cannot get rid of communism since it has been spread in a lot of parties, not limited to BSP the way it used to. Just like we saw in Rosenetz he can cut off piece of Bulgarian land and annex it...

[@S.Solmazturk]

@@tisho91 every party is corrupt or bought by foreign powers in Bulgaria. At least DPS will protect my rights including voting from abroad. At least nobody will try to force me to change my name to an ethnic Bulgarian one. There is no alternative for us.

[@wentro1]

@@S.Solmazturk Literally nothing wrong with people voting abroad. The problem, as I wrote in my comment, is who are they voting for... A party embroiled in corruption so obvious that a country across the world had to step in and condemn it. I respect your vote for the DPS, but could you honestly say you support all the corruption, buying votes and voter intimidation, proven by the police to have been done by this party?

[@faythe03]

Hopefully this time it will be different here...

[@woflpack2390]

Corruption is the death of democracy. Let's hope it gets better for the Bulgarian people.

[@lores996]

Volt Europe, the paneuropean party, is present in the PP coalition and got elected in the Bulgaria’s parliament. After the three MPs elected in the Netherlands now the party is truly paneuropean since has MPs in different EU countries 🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺

[@lavadax2]

💜

[@user-hl7bw8yw7n]

yeah, i'm kinda stoked about that

[@hokton8555]

@@user-hl7bw8yw7n they just use them for register

[@hippiemuslim]

Hope you're doing a video about Romania too.

[@LMNikolas]

Thank you for the objective video. ❤️ It is truly remarkable how we, the bulgarians had to cope with the government of Borisov for over 12 years. P. S. I recieved the Bulgaria with shoes pin and it's gorgeous. ❤️

[@ralphbernhard1757]

Keeping my fingers crossed. Break out of the eternal circle of corruption feeding theft and incompetence. Go Bulgaria.

[@planlos4281]

Could you do a video series in which you explain the biggest parties of every european country please

[@YTYY]

You forgot to mention DPS the third largest party. PP is open to form a coalition with DPS too.

[@user-hl7bw8yw7n]

Well, Petkov, the leader of PP, said that he'd agree to talk with them, provided that they clean up corruption from their party. Considering that corruption is pretty much the entire ideology of DPS at this point, that ain't happening.

[@YTYY]

@@user-hl7bw8yw7n Entire ideology? Really? I mean every Party in Bulgaria basically is corrupt but i wouldnt consider DPS to be more corrupt then the average. I would say the chance is as high as a coalation with the socialists.

[@wentro1]

@@YTYY Please read my comment above... they really are more corrupt

[@wentro1]

@@user-hl7bw8yw7n Petkov said repeatedly AFTER THE ELECTION that no talks would take place with DPS and GERB

[@YTYY]

@@wentro1 Then they need to form a 4 party coalition with the socialists... good luck

[@danielastoyanova3245]

Great coverage, the first step is to reform the Justice system. Kiril and Asen want and can do that with the help of the other anti corruption parties. I hope they will also change the election laws as I took part in organising 4 elections in one year outside the country and it was dry hard as there isn’t any electronic or postal way of voting.

[@niksn3320]

Ah yes. Boyko in the trash thumbnail

[@skinnywizard103]

I hope it works out for them.

[@nt91]

Great analysis. You nailed it. Borissov is done, he is history. A coalition is quite probable even without ITN

[@anonymoususer3561]

Hopefully this goes well

[@yhago5147]

12 years of Borisov, imagine how many people he put inside every corner of the government, people that keep working for his mafia, that do not want changes. People expect that the new party solve all this in 2 years. If not, next election they put Borisov again!! And who the midia is suporting??

[@t.mollov566]

As some elderly Bulgarians say: "We need another century to recover", so looking for change from corrupted parties will give no results any time soon.

[@MMartec]

Well... I hope for the best for Bulgaria at the moment, of course! I'd very much like to see Bulgaria far better! The present political spectrum does sound much more optimistic for now. Surely every European Nation including mine would like to see transparency and no corruption inside the Union, but if that turns out not to be the case the European Union and Court of Justice should interfere and correct it for the sake of Bulgaria and the EU. There are too many important things to think about at the moment like climate change and automation, digitization etc, to be thinking about money disappearing because the system didn't work...

[@pebblepod30]

Wow good luck to Bulgarians!

[@lilialang7983]

Very poor presenting of the real story. What happened is that the President Radev, who is also an army general, carried out a coup. The party of Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev is a presidential project that was imposed with a large media campaign and a huge amount of money, as well as with a change in the electoral process to ensure a secure victory of his parties, by the way people in small villages who does not support Radev where arrested for 24 hours and made to sign protocols that they will not lead election campaign.

[@pebblepod30]

@@lilialang7983 ok

[@dsdf5857]

I live in Bulgaria so dont hate for this -> This is hilarious and tragic at the same time, even the comments add to it.

[@Froge0]

Need dis here

[@WaterYoshi]

I hope Bulgaria gets the support it needs to both survive and become functional democracy.

[@kobokoo3999]

so far so good

[@sha22276]

lol, no

[@kobokoo3999]

@@sha22276 aaaaaaand we are back

[@MrStoyan5]

Less than a year later and Borisov looks poised to be back on top come October...

[@danielhalachev4714]

Wait! Somebody actually mentions my country? Even Bulgarians don't do that.

[@teddybearington3]

Thx guys💕

[@srbtlevse16]

I hope Bulgaria can move forwars under this new government. Best of luck, and make sure these anti corruption politicians don't join te corruption like in many other countries

[@AtanasPanaiotov]

"bulgarian anti-vax lobbies"... That's a comic phrase for anyone even remotely involved in bulgarian internal politics

[@viksatavikben7032]

@TLDR News EU You miss one other party Revival (Vazrazhdane )

[@AlekWheeler]

Interesting how in two former Soviet states, along with Ukraine, (and yes I’m aware Bulgaria technically wasn’t part of the USSR, just like Finland and Mongolia, bear with me) a TV star ran on an anti-corruption platform, which resonated with younger voters.

[@yankochoynev652]

Similiar thing happened in the US with Trump. He said he will "drain the swamp" and he was a popular personality, who starred in movies and tv shows. It has nothing to do with former socialism.

[@georgilazarov6396]

very well produced and accurate video on the current political situation in Bulgaria, although a bit summarised. just wanna correct- BSP (the socialists) got 10,2%, ITN (There Is Such A People) 9,5% and Democratic Bulgaria 6,4%. Also the first political party already started some sort of coalition talks with all of the ''favorable'' parties (DB, BSP & ITN). ITN also showed interest and will to form a coalition government and promised to be more ''talkative''.

[@deansolomon3066]

What's happening in Bulgaria is very similar to what's happening in South Africa. A corrupt major party is being challenged by a cohort of smaller anti corruption pro service delivery parties

[@stefankatsarov5806]

I am expecting the worst and hoping for the best, is what me and probably molst bulgarians think on every election and for good reason sadly.

[@TheSlashd0t]

Time for Borissov to take his ill-gotten gains and retire to whatever rock he crawled from under.

[@galindimitrov8720]

Time for him to go in prison if u ask me !!! They killed my business and I had no chance but to work in west Europe for 10 years !!! So I hope his people and even him will pay the price for destroying so manny lives! I’m sorry for my English!

[@thierryparte2506]

I'll pray for the Bulgarian people to get back on their feet! EU all the way baby