With 48 hours left to register for the upcoming parliamentary elections, representatives of most major political parties have started lining up at the Central Election Commission office in Sofia. Following several days' speculation, Democratic Bulgaria (DB) and We Continue the Change (WCC) registered to run separately rather than as coalition partners. Democratic Bulgaria favored running jointly but recent polling demonstrates that the two parties could gain more ground if they do not form a pre-election coalition.
Two breakaways from Trifonov, plus Rashkov, to head ballots of "We Continue the Change"
The leading spots on We Continue the Change's ballots in the forthcoming election are already "taken".
"We have a lot of candidates and a limited number of seats, and when you consider that we have to place new candidates in addition to the established ones - it makes things very complicated," members of WCC's election team told Capital Weekly."He is our expert on security and anti-corruption," the WCC team said, adding that Rashkov is loyal to Petkov and Vassilev, although he has not formally joined their party.
Inflation climbs further
Consumer price inflation continued to accelerate and reached 17.3% year-on-year in July, NSI data shows. This is the most drastic appreciation of the last two decades. Inflation levels have already surpassed the values they had climbed to at the beginning of the global financial crisis and are comparable to those during the currency crisis of 1998.
Prices are rising in all sectors of the economy, most noticeably in transport, where inflation exceeds 31% compared to last July. Food costs, which are a major household expense, have grown by 24% in a year. In July, inflation rose for the 17th consecutive month after the 2020 lows during the pandemic. Its annual average for the past 12 months reached 10.5% and economists predict it will continue to rise.
Caretaker gov't mulls possible dialogue with Gazprom
The caretaker cabinet will decide whether to hold talks on the possible resumption of Gazprom supplies to Bulgaria within a week at the earliest. This is what Energy Minister Rossen Hristov said on Monday during his visit to the Maritsa East Mining complex.
In his words, the government wants to first analyze whether it can access the necessary quantities of natural gas for the coming winter from alternative sources.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association Vassil Velev called for a meeting of the crisis headquarters for energy with the participation of employers' organizations. The intended subject of the meeting is compensation for businesses due to high natural gas prices
With 48 hours left to register for the upcoming parliamentary elections, representatives of most major political parties have started lining up at the Central Election Commission office in Sofia. Following several days' speculation, Democratic Bulgaria (DB) and We Continue the Change (WCC) registered to run separately rather than as coalition partners. Democratic Bulgaria favored running jointly but recent polling demonstrates that the two parties could gain more ground if they do not form a pre-election coalition.
