BULGARIA: 2017 Election Results
As we have previously proposed, this puts Bulgaria back on the “Red Light of 25 Years of Communism…” as in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016…
Government Elections in Bulgaria (2005-2015):
2005 Parliamentary Elections
2006 Presidential Elections
2007 Municipal Elections
2009 Parliamentary Elections
2009 European Parliament elections
2011 Presidential Elections
2011 Local Elections
2013 Early parliamentary elections
2014 Early Parliamentary Elections
2015 Municipal Elections
Washington Post/Associated Press
SOFIA, Bulgaria — The center-right GERB party of former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov took the lead in Bulgaria’s parliamentary election on Sunday, a pair of exit polls showed, a result that if confirmed by official returns indicates support for the country keeping its European identity.
The Alpha Research exit poll said GERB won 32.2 percent of the vote, with the Socialist Party coming in second with 28 percent, while a separate exit poll by Gallup International Balkan had GERB with 32.8 percent and the Socialists with 28.4 percent.
The leader of the Socialists Party later conceded defeat and said the party would not take part in a coalition government with GERB.
Official results are expected Monday. If they confirm the exit polls, Borisov, a political maverick who combines man-in-the-street rhetoric with a pro-European Union disposition, will be handed a mandate to form his third cabinet.
GERB did not win enough votes to govern alone, and will likely form a coalition government with the United Patriots, an alliance of three nationalist parties that the exit polls showed placing third.
Borisov, 57, resigned as prime minister after his party lost the November 2016 presidential election. Parliament was dissolved in January, and the president appointed a caretaker government that will stay until a new government is formed.
Bulgaria elections 2017
With less than a week to go to Bulgaria’s early parliamentary elections on March 26, GERB leader Boiko Borissov and Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Kornelia Ninova are engaging sniper fire over Ninova’s pledge to block EU sanctions against Russia should she become prime minister. The election campaign will see exchanges between the leaders of Bulgaria’s two largest party take the form only of sniping at each other over the political parapets, given that in the past week it became clear they could not agree on the terms for meeting in a televised debate.
Ninova said towards the end of the week that she would debate with Borissov in absentia, making statements from wherever she was in Bulgaria and awaiting his response. Her first move was to say that should her party win the elections and she become prime minister, she would go to Brussels and say, “gentlemen, the next time you come to vote on sanctions against Russia, Bulgaria will impose a veto”. In making the move, Ninova ignored two facts, one that not all EU leaders are men, and second, that such votes are by qualified majority – meaning that a thing such as a Bulgarian veto does not exist. Borissov responded that a prime minister Ninova in Brussels saying that Bulgaria would “veto” sanctions against Russia would put Bulgaria into “monstrous isolation”.
As we have previously proposed, this puts Bulgaria back on the “Red Light of 25 Years of Communism…” as in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016…
Government Elections in Bulgaria (2005-2015):
2005 Parliamentary Elections
2006 Presidential Elections
2007 Municipal Elections
2009 Parliamentary Elections
2009 European Parliament elections
2011 Presidential Elections
2011 Local Elections
2013 Early parliamentary elections
2014 Early Parliamentary Elections
2015 Municipal Elections
Featured Author of the Month Evdokia Krusteva Shares Ancient Recipes of Bulgaria
BulgarianCooking.com’s featured author of the month is Bulgarian native, Evdokia Krusteva who wrote the cookbook, “Ancient Recipes of Bulgaria“.
Evdokia (Eva) Krusteva was born and raised in Yambol, Bulgaria. She is a fourth generation Pentecostal believer and minister of the gospel. She fondly remembers how her home was opened to holding services underground during communist times. These times would be centered around a meal as not to bring unwanted attention to people gathering.
Having lived in communist and post-communist Bulgaria, Eva has a unique view on life with a great story to tell. She often recalls how dishes were traditionally prepared growing up along with the many unique customs of each. She has included a few in this collection of memories.
This cookbook features nearly two dozen truly ancient recipes of Bulgarian cooking. Some of these dishes are distant relatives to ones found in ancient Roman manuscripts believed to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD. Others are among those far before the time of Christ. As Bulgaria is a country of oral history, recipes are typically not written, but passed down from one generation to the next by experiencing the method of preparation. With nearly every dish in Bulgarian cooking comes a story and custom. This cookbook attempts to preserve these hundred year old stories for many years to come so they can continue to be passed down.
Addressing the Masters of Chaplaincy Ministry Program Graduating Class in Bulgaria
Bulgaria set for snap election as president appoints interim government
Bulgaria’s new president called an early national election for 26 March and appointed a former parliamentary speaker as caretaker prime minister until then.
Ognyan Gerdzhikov, 70, currently a professor of law and head of an arbitration court, served as speaker of parliament in a centrist government from 2001 to 2005 and is now the country’s interim prime minister until the March elections. Kiril Ananiev, 61, currently a deputy finance minister in charge of budgets, will take over as finance minister, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Ananiev is seen as a safe pair of hands, having served as deputy finance minister in five different governments. The appointments show that President Rumen Radev, who took office this month after winning an election with the backing of the opposition Socialists, is seeking continuity and balance, analysts said.
Political row in Bulgaria over European Parliament migration resolution
Bulgaria’s largest parliamentary party GERB and the nationalist Patriotic Front coalition have launched verbal attacks on the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, saying their MEPs backed a European Parliament resolution that effectively encourages illegal migration.
The 93-point resolution on human rights and migration in third countries was adopted by the European Parliament on October 25.
At a news briefing in the National Assembly, GERB MP Galia Zaharieva quoted extracts from the EP resolutio on the need “to avoid creating separate districts for migrants, by promoting inclusion and the opportunity to take up all the social opportunities on offer”; and that the EP “considers that migration is recognised globally as being a powerful tool for sustainable and inclusive development.”
Zaharieva said that the resolution indicated that migration was beneficial. At the same time, she hit out at the opposition parties, including the BSP, for being critical about the Bulgarian government’s handling of migration and she accused the opposition of being alarmist in making false claims about the migration situtation in Bulgaria.
Valeri Simeonov, co-leader of the nationalist Patriotic Front, a minority partner in the coalition government arrangement, said that the BSP and MRF MEPs who had backed the resolution should be withdrawn from their posts and replaced by others further down the lists.
Simeonov said that the EP resolution had been adopted by 339 to 333 votes, meaning that the votes of the Bulgarian MEPs had been crucial to it being approved. He described the resolution as “dangerous and harmful” to Bulgaria because the country was at the forefront “of this new war with migration”.
“We cannot accept as normal that, with furious anger and enthusiasm and the aggressive egomania of a rising folk music singer, the leader of the BSP travels Bulgaria, inspiring fear and terror in people that a refugee camp will be opened in every village, and at the same time, the representatives of the same party stand shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, with the MRF to vote for a decision so harmful and dangerous to Bulgaria,” Simeonov said.
BSP leader Kornelia Ninova said that her party distanced itself from the resolution, which she described as inconsistent with the BSP’s policies. The MEPs would be asked next week to explain to a meeting of the BSP executive bureau why they had supported the resolution, Ninova said.
The row comes just more than a week before Bulgarians go to the polls in the first round of presidential elections, in which nationalists and socialist candidates have sought to make illegal migration and refugees a campaign issue.
Cooking Traditions of Bulgaria, First Edition is NOW on SALE in Limited Print
This cookbook features authentic recipes in attempts to further the tradition of keeping alive century old recipes of Bulgarian cuisine. Here you can learn how to make dishes from moussaka to baklava and others in between. The variety of tastes of authentic Bulgarian foods is much desired and the chosen recipes are easy to follow.
Go to amazon to see the table of contents and purchase
or purchase directly form CreatSpace eStore here: https://www.createspace.com/3890623
FIRST EDITION, 2012
Copyright © February, 2012 by Dony & Kathryn Donev
Cooking Traditions of Bulgaria
© 2012, Spasen Publishers, a division of www.cupandcross.com
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED under international and Pan-American Copyright Convention. Printed in the United States. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author(s)/publisher.
Bulgaria Elects a Socialist President Again
As we have previously proposed, this puts Bulgaria back on the “Red Light of 25 Years of Communism…” as in 2013 and 2014.
A socialist general from the Bulgarian Air Forces took by surprise the recent presidential elections winning +60% of the vote. He has already declared his pro-Russian preference asserting Bulgaria may pull out from NATO and the European Union.
As soon as loosing the elections, the ruling political party resigned the government early Monday morning. Bulgaria’s constitution now demands that the president gives mandate to the opposing Socialist Party, who will reject it due to insufficient presence in Bulgaria’s Parliament. The president then returns a second mandate to the ruling party, which they claim will turn down promptly.
A temporary government is then to be formed by the President and current Parliament, as it was the case in 2013 and 2014. In term, the democrats will hope to win with majority the new parliamentarian elections in 2017, which will be the 11th consecutive government elections in Bulgaria for the past 11 years since 2005:
2005 Parliamentary Elections
2006 Presidential Elections
2007 Municipal Elections
2009 Parliamentary Elections
2009 European Parliament elections
2011 Presidential Elections
2011 Local Elections
2013 Early parliamentary elections
2014 Early Parliamentary Elections
2015 Municipal Elections
2016 Presidential Elections
What does all this mean for the Church in Bulgaria?
Unstable political situation in Bulgaria with pro-Russian policies proposes a problem for the ministry of virtually all Protestants in the country. With a great probability to be voted in through a pro-Socialist government, a newly proposed legal measure bans any and all foreign organizations, companies and citizens from providing funding or donating to Bulgarian religious denominations. This would ban not only foreign physical and legal entities from funding Bulgarian religious institutions, but also companies with foreign ownership that are legally registered in Bulgaria. Using state funding for “illegal activities” by religious denominations will be sanctioned with prison terms of 3-6 years.
With these sanctions in mind, the new legal measure embodies the following rationale:
- Churches and ministers must declare all foreign currency money flow and foreign bank accounts
- Participation of foreign persons in the administration of any denomination is strictly forbidden
- Foreign parsons shall not be allowed to speak at religious meetings in any way shape or form especially religious sermons
- Anonymous donations and donorship to religious organization is not permitted
- Bulgarian flag shall be present in every temple of worship
- The new measure will block all foreign interference in the faith confessions and denominations in Bulgaria
Christmas Book Sale: Psychological Exploration of Communist and Post Communist Bulgaria
December 15, 2016 by Cup&Cross
Filed under Books, Featured, News, Publication
In the past five years since 2011, we have authored over two dozen books related to our ministry and mission work in Eastern Europe. As several of the prints are now almost exhausted and second/third editions and several new titles are under way, we are releasing all currently available editions in a Christmas sale through the month of December. All titles are available at up to 30% off and Amazon offers free shipping and extra savings for bundle purchases.
Our book available on sale today is:
Psychological Exploration of Communist and Post Communist Bulgaria
Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Surrounded with insecurity and uncertainty, the Bulgarian Evangelical believer finds great hope and comfort in the fact that God holds the future in His hands. Christianity is a reality that is certain. While having lived in a culture of oppression and persecution, the Bulgarian Evangelical believer now can trade a downtrodden spirit for one of triumph. The once atmosphere of turmoil is being transformed to one of liberation in the Spirit where chains of slavery are traded for a crown of joyous freedom. Living in the 21st century in a context of post communist and postmodern transformations, Bulgarian Evangelical believers must remain true to their historical heritage and preserve their identity in order to keep their faith alive. This unique testimony must be passed on to future Bulgarian generations by telling the story of the true Pentecostal experience.
Obama, Marxism and Pentecostal Identity
Time and time again in the past several years, while ministering in churches across the United States, friends and partners ask us about our opinion on the political situation at home and around the world. Many of them ask the direct question of America becoming more and more socialist-like. Our response is that while people have the right to own a business, there cannot be communism, but this barely scratches the surface.
“Looking over the Wall” answers this and many other important questions about the current global reality from a very distinct Pentecostal and the same time post communist point of view. Yet, the text does it in a way, which can actually relate to popular American culture and current economic reality. The book provides Christian answers as of what defines our identity and makes us human – a right communism strips from the persona, the family and the church without much regard of the consequences that follow.
But this drastic dehumanization has an almost irreversible effect on the human psyche – a slavery mentality that penetrates the very heart of men and women and leaves forever its mark of fear, depression and insecurity. The book traces how Pentecostalism as faith and ideology has the power to deliver post communist communities from the grasp of oppressive governments and transform them into a socially relevant culture changing force. At the same time, it remains a warning to theologians who dare to flirt with Marxist idealism being fulfilled in the context of the New Testament ecclesia. And rightfully so!
The book is a must read for any and all who are ministering or planning to minister in a post communist culture or among post communist groups regardless of their geographical locale. For the principles it shows are valid for post community mentality everywhere. Preview and purchase your copy directly at Amazon.com
New socialist president-elect throws Bulgaria in a new political crisis
As we have previously proposed, this puts Bulgaria back on the “Red Light of 25 Years of Communism…” as in 2013 and 2014.
A socialist general from the Bulgarian Air Forces took by surprise the recent presidential elections winning +60% of the vote. He has already declared his pro-Russian preference asserting Bulgaria may pull out from NATO and the European Union.
As soon as loosing the elections, the ruling political party resigned the government early Monday morning. Bulgaria’s constitution now demands that the president gives mandate to the opposing Socialist Party, who will reject it due to insufficient presence in Bulgaria’s Parliament. The president then returns a second mandate to the ruling party, which they claim will turn down promptly.
A temporary government is then to be formed by the President and current Parliament, as it was the case in 2013 and 2014. In term, the democrats will hope to win with majority the new parliamentarian elections in 2017, which will be the 11th consecutive government elections in Bulgaria for the past 11 years since 2005:
2005 Parliamentary Elections
2006 Presidential Elections
2007 Municipal Elections
2009 Parliamentary Elections
2009 European Parliament elections
2011 Presidential Elections
2011 Local Elections
2013 Early parliamentary elections
2014 Early Parliamentary Elections
2015 Municipal Elections
2016 Presidential Elections
What does all this mean for the Church in Bulgaria?
Unstable political situation in Bulgaria with pro-Russian policies proposes a problem for the ministry of virtually all Protestants in the country. With a great probability to be voted in through a pro-Socialist government, a newly proposed legal measure bans any and all foreign organizations, companies and citizens from providing funding or donating to Bulgarian religious denominations. This would ban not only foreign physical and legal entities from funding Bulgarian religious institutions, but also companies with foreign ownership that are legally registered in Bulgaria. Using state funding for “illegal activities” by religious denominations will be sanctioned with prison terms of 3-6 years.
With these sanctions in mind, the new legal measure embodies the following rationale:
- Churches and ministers must declare all foreign currency money flow and foreign bank accounts
- Participation of foreign persons in the administration of any denomination is strictly forbidden
- Foreign parsons shall not be allowed to speak at religious meetings in any way shape or form especially religious sermons
- Anonymous donations and donorship to religious organization is not permitted
- Bulgarian flag shall be present in every temple of worship
- The new measure will block all foreign interference in the faith confessions and denominations in Bulgaria