Nearly Half of Bulgarians Give Preference to Authoritarian Leader

Society | December 17, 2020, Thursday // 12:51
Bulgaria: Nearly Half of Bulgarians Give Preference to Authoritarian Leader pexels.com

Liberal democracies enjoy little support in much of Central and Eastern Europe, according to a survey conducted in ten countries of the region, Politico writes today.

The study was published by the Bratislava-based NGO Globsec. Its results show that in four out of ten countries surveyed – Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, less than 50% of respondents support "liberal democracy with regular elections and a multi-party system" as the best form of government.

For our country, the data show that only 35 percent prefer liberal democracy with regular elections and a multi-party system - the lowest indicator among the ten states. This is in contrast to another 45% of Bulgarians who would prefer more authoritarian rule – "a strong and decisive leader who should not have to deal with parliament or elections" – the highest indicator.

The results show that the quality of democracy in the country has nothing to do with the support for liberal democracy, the authors of the Globsec report write.

In Bulgaria, 34% believe that Western societies and their way of life are a threat to national identity and values. Nearly a third of Bulgarians (31%) believe the EU poses a similar threat, while 43 percent see the threat in the US. Half of Bulgarians think migrants are such a threat and 36 percent fear sexual minorities.

As regards the "standard mainstream media" only 37% of Bulgarians trust them – the lowest indicator compared to the rest. Only 38 percent think the mass media are sooner or wholly free, while 55 percent believe oligarchs and strong financial groups are influencing them.

The survey was conducted in March in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia among a representative sample of 1,000 or more respondents in each country, BNR reports.

 

 

 

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