Our neighbor Bulgaria is mired in an endless political crisis, from which the way out is not at all clear. A few days ago, Kiril Petkov’s pro-Western coalition government collapsed, taking with it his vision for reform and a crackdown on corruption, and he publicly stated that he was overthrown by the mafia and Russians who were using their access to power.
It looks like the country is going to the polls for the fourth time in a year, most likely in the fall when they may coincide with our national elections. Regardless of whether they coincide or not, the elections in Bulgaria and Greece will have one thing in common: they will be held according to the system of proportional representation, Kathimerini writes.
Bulgaria’s experience should scare us. Our northeastern neighbor is without a leader at a time when political storms are swirling in the region, requiring strong hands at the helm. Bulgaria’s system of proportional representation allocates seats in parliament in such a way that a stable parliamentary majority cannot be formed and only a cobbled-together governing coalition can be formed, usually through mutual concessions.
Under pressure to form a government so that the poorest member state of the European Union can receive European funds so that it does not starve, and after merciless haggling, four parties initially found common ground and agreed to form a coalition. But with the appearance of the first dark clouds on the horizon, the administration sank. Each of the partners had their own agenda and dependencies on economic and geopolitical centers that, when they felt their interests were threatened, overthrew the government.
In this case, it was the TV presenter and popular singer Slavi Trifonov, who left the coalition under the pretext of some “national problem” of the ruling coalition. It could have been someone else, for some other reason.
The point is that Bulgaria pays the price of the proportional system, which facilitates political fragmentation and prevents, in the absence of a consensual political culture, the formation of strong governments. Meanwhile, a proposal to move to a system of enhanced proportional representation with bonus seats for the party with the most votes, similar to the previous Greek system, is under discussion.
In Greece, we will head to the polls with proportional representation, praying we don’t end up in chaos like the one in Bulgaria. Also, the experience of implementing proportional representation in our local government elections, where elected councils cannot make any decisions, should be an eye opener.
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