Seven Parties to Make It into Bulgaria's Parliament - Poll

A total of seven parties are likely to send lawmakers to the National Assembly of Bulgaria after the early general elections on Sunday, a new poll shows.

Conservative Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms (BSP), Bulgaria without Censorship, nationalist Patriotic Front, right-wing Reformist Bloc and (possibly) Ataka are expected to get more than 4 percent at the snap poll, the result needed to get MP seats, Mediana agency says.

This is one of the several recent surveys predicting a breakthrough for far-right party Ataka, to which most polls gave no chance to jump over the threshold.

President (2002-2011) Georgi Parvanov's Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV) is just below the line, according to the pollster.

Mediana head Kolyo Kolev explains that none of the bigger parties (GERB and BSP) could profit from the ongoing political situation, with voters experiencing growing pessimism and anxiety over the country's economic and social development.

The poll projects a distance of ten percent between the conservatives and the socialist, with GERB at about 31 percent and the BSP with 21 percent of support.

Mediana's survey forecasts the Patriotic Front, a recently-established coalition, will nearly tie with Bulgaria without Censorship, outpacing the Reformist Bloc, a precedent compared to the bulk of other polls.  

Only 9 percent of respondents, on the other hand, believe the upcoming elections will be fair. This is likely to result in a voter turnout of approximately 3.2 million, a historic low, Mediana points out.

Kolev warns that a new government formed after the elections could turn out to last only...