Bulgarians abroad look to Radev for security and predictability

Bulgarians living outside the EU, particularly in the United States, Britain and Turkey, faced hurdles trying to cast their ballots in Sunday’s election.

“Some people — not from Seattle, but from neighbouring states where there were polling stations in previous elections — were unable to vote this time. This included Bulgarians from Oregon, who drove for over two hours to Seattle to vote. We opened at 7 a.m. sharp so that they could vote and get back before the traffic,” said Veselin Markov, who served on the election commission at a polling station in Seattle.

However, there was a more uplifting side to election day. The Seattle polling station was set up in a Bulgarian restaurant, providing an opportunity for people to not only vote, but also to meet friends and enjoy a meal together. It became a space for conversation — about hopes, expectations, and concerns over Bulgaria’s political future.

Markov said that Bulgarians living abroad would need time to understand the plans of Rumen Radev, the winner with an outright majority, and his coalition, 'Progressive Bulgaria', before forming clear expectations.

“I don’t think even people in Bulgaria fully know what lies ahead. He needs time to set out his ideas. So many people have placed their trust in him, and he has to live up to that, and avoid the fate of other candidates and parties who won elections, though less decisively, only to fade after two or three votes because they didn’t deliver on what they promised.”

The world has changed significantly in recent years, particularly since the pandemic, said Daniel Djenev, who has lived in Chicago since 2000. That is why people are looking for at least some sense of predictability, he said.

“People want things in Bulgaria to improve. This isn’t the first election, and I see how our compatriots mobilise to punish former leaders. But when it comes to voting for something new and different, we often vote almost blindly. I give everyone a chance. Still, people here want to know that when they retire, they can return to Bulgaria and that it will be like Poland, for example, and not have the weakest economy in Europe.”

• On elections and people – hope for dialogue or anticipation of the morning dew

Djenev also had a message for the 240 newly elected Members of Parliament, who are due to be sworn in in the coming days:

'Do something good for the people, not yourselves — and do it now. Something needs to be done now and for the future, with a timeframe of three, five, seven or ten years. Do something that will leave a mark.”

Bulgarians in Cambridge, Britain, have similar motivations for participating in elections: a desire for security and predictability. This explains why many supported the coalition around President Rumen Radev, according to Elena Vancheva, chair of the local polling station.

• Bulgarian students at Harvard: Voting truly matters

“Many Bulgarians in Cambridge plan to return home, and I think their vote for the Progressive Bulgaria coalition is a breath of hope for that return. There is still a lot of room for the country to grow and improve in terms of equality, for people’s rights to be respected, and for them to feel confident that when they go back, they will manage — just as they did when they first came to the UK on their own.”

There is hope for return, but also a condition — that life back home should offer predictability, stability and dignity — in the words of Bulgarians abroad, who once again show that emigration does not mean severing ties with Bulgaria’s roots or its present.

Further reading:

• Diana Rasheva, Paris: If everything is normal in Bulgaria, why live abroad?
• Today Bulgarians vote and tomorrow we wait for “them to come to an agreement”
  

Editor: Elena Karkalanova