Maxim Behar for BTV: It is important how the political forces will display themselves and how they will communicate with each other
Maxim Behar commented on the recent extraordinary parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, the messages of the political forces and their communication in the pre-election studio of bTV with Maria Tsentsarova.
Maxim Behar commented on the recent extraordinary parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, the messages of the political forces and their communication in the pre-election studio of bTV with Maria Tsentsarova.
Host: Hello again from our special studio in front of the National Assembly! Here with me now are three people who know how to create a public image and to read the gestures of politicians so that we can see beyond the apparent. My guests are the PR experts Lyubomir Amalamanov, Maxim Behar and Nidal Algafari. Good evening!
Maxim Behar: Good evening, good morning!
Host: It's almost morning! Tell us, what configuration are we getting in the National Assembly? Will we see a government? What is your prediction?
Maxim Behar: First of all, let's say that the result from the game is 1:1, Italy scored a goal, and secondly, no one can say whether there will be a government. Now the answer is probably yes, it is more important how the parties and political forces will present themselves, what they will say and how they will communicate with each other. Because after the last election we saw there was absolutely no communication between them. There was also no communication between the parties and their voters. There was also no communication before the election. There were only people appearing on billboards and television screens and not saying a word. Rather to register perhaps that they were alive. As my good friend Valery Zapryanov says - these are people who even voters call by the names of folk singers. They say Slavi, Boyko, Kornelia, so these people have registered being alive. They ran for elections, now we will see how they will present themselves.
Host: Voters swapped the first and the second. But does this change the basis of the dialogue between the parties? The leaders are the same, the people we are going to put in parliament will probably be in a very similar configuration.
Nidal Algafari: They still don't want to talk to one another. The parties of change, as they call themselves, have no change. Neither in Maya Manolova, nor do I see in Tatiana Doncheva, nor do I see in Hristo Ivanov, nor in Slavi Trifonov himself. Slavi Trifonov is the longest playing on this field, although he plays in a completely different way. He was an opposition; he was a person who helped Boyko Borisov to rise in one way or another. He has helped both to fall and to rise.
Host: His team is made up of new faces. Ones we haven't seen before.
Nidal Algafari: No one voted for his team. Everyone votes specifically for Slavi, for Boyko Borisov, for Ahmed Dogan, for Hristo Ivanov. The team should have an agenda and none of them could pull out any agenda. If I have to ask someone what the agenda of Slavi, Boyko or Hristo is - they can't tell you anything, they don't know. There is no agenda.
Host: Everyone knows that all three formations have an agenda on their website.
Nidal Algafari: Just because it's there doesn't mean anyone reads it.
Maxim Behar: The promises are exactly the same.
Nidal Algafari: Yes, and the majority of them are copy-paste.
Host: Yet will this government be any good, the one we all expect to happen with this configuration in parliament?
Lyubomir Alamanov: I want to start with a piece of news first because I've been listening to analysts, commentators, etc. all night and no one is saying the essential thing. If the results remain like this, “GERB” has lost for the first time, and this must be said straightforwardly. For the first time in 12 years, people have said, 'Enough'. Whether there will be a government or not - we will see. Democracy is a conscious responsibility. The people have said for now we are experimenting, and we want to see what they will offer us. They may or may not get along. They may make a government of the compromise, or they may decide to go for another election. I know this sounds very scary, but on 4th April it sounded very scary to have a second election. At the moment, it seems perfectly normal. Choice is the norm of democracy and the more they understand that it is their right, the better.