#26 Bulgaria (elections today)
It's the absolutely perfect time for a newsletter about Bulgaria, one of my favorite countries, because voters are heading to the polls today, April 2, for the fifth time in only two years. Bulgaria is voting for members of its National Assembly, a unicameral legislative body.
The country's President, Rumen Radev, called for yet another vote after members of parliament failed to form a government. A caretaker Prime Minister named Galab Donev governed the country in the interim period.
For the Center for European Policy Analysis, Hugo Blewett-Mundy has an interesting take on the state of affairs. He writes:
At first appearance, it may seem Bulgarian democracy is entering a spiraling crisis of its own making. Despite the five attempts to produce a new government, the country remains in a state of limbo, without certainty over whether a credible program can be implemented for Bulgaria’s economic recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic. The failure of government has had a perhaps inevitable effect on public confidence — at the last elections in October, Bulgaria recorded a dismal turnout of just 39.3%.
Despite the bleak picture, Bulgaria faces the real prospect of long-term positive democratic change. Any political crisis is a risk for democracy and in Bulgaria’s case, it offers much-needed disruption. For the first time since the fall of communism in 1989, a broad electoral pro-reform coalition has emerged, united with a deep resentment towards Bulgaria’s persistent institutional and governance weaknesses.
This week is about Bulgaria.
Welcome to the 195 series, where I take you on a mini-tour of every country (and maybe some places that want to be countries). Each week I'll feature a new location. Some you may have heard of, while others may be new to you. The point is to learn and nurture our curiosity about the wider world. Maybe you'll find a new artist or musician you like, too.
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Country Info:
Population: Roughly 6.8 million.
Current government: According to the 1991 constitution, Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic where the Prime Minister is elected by whichever party of parties has the majority in the National Assembly.
Who's governing the country now? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ See above.
Religion: Well over 80 percent of the country is Eastern Orthodox. According to a 2020 report from the State Department:
The constitution recognizes Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the country’s “traditional” religion, and the law exempts the Bulgarian Orthodox Church from registration.
Standout artist: Zlatyu Boyadzhiev. Here's an interesting Twitter thread on his work and how it changed after he had a stroke.
#StrokeRehab & #ArtHistory 🧵
My husband was watching a @RickSteves’ Europe show today (he must be longing for a vacay) & called me over to hear the story of a Bulgarian artist of genius, Zlatyu Boyadzhiev.
Below is a self portrait of him & his wife 1/ pic.twitter.com/PS4El6b5Zm— Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD (@MVGutierrezMD) August 23, 2020
Standout film: Viktoria, a 2014 film about a woman who does not want to have a child in communist Bulgaria but gives birth to a daughter anyway.
The New Yorker said the movie, directed by Maya Vitkova, "is a wildly imaginative yet fiercely precise, grandly political yet bracingly intimate report on being a woman in Bulgaria at a time when politics and private life were conspicuously intertwined."
A surprising thing: Bulgaria is allegedly the oldest country in Europe that hasn’t changed its name since its establishment, which is believed to have been in 681 AD. Its capital Sofia is said to be one of the oldest cities in Europe (a shoutout to Lisbon, Athens, and the Bulgarian city Plovdiv, which are also pretty ancient ladies).
Story of the week: Radio Free Europe has a story about concerns over possible political fraud after the government decided voters would be able to use paper ballots and electronic voting machines considered less susceptible to manipulation.
What I'm writing:
• Three years after rising to prominence as a presidential candidate in Belarus, 40-year-old Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is a regular in Washington, where U.S. lawmakers occasionally call her “madame president.”
I asked Tsikhanouskaya how she plans to weaken dictator Alexander Lukashenko's regime from exile in Lithuania, and this is what she said:
“We have to beat the regime and strengthen people, and only this combination will bring about changes in our country. The regime is rather weak at this moment. They might seem monolithic, but they are not.”
She arrived in Washington with many big asks for lawmakers and went away with many wins. This story is unlocked and free to read.
We must weaken the Belarus regime & empower the people — together, these efforts will drive change in our country. Grateful for @CrisLeeMaza's comprehensive @nationaljournal coverage of my 🇺🇸 visit to gather support for democratic Belarus.https://t.co/oWy2gvCLcX
— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) March 30, 2023
• I also spoke with Adrian Kubicki, Poland’s 36-year-old consul general in New York, about how he went from airline spokesman to government representative and why he thinks talking to conservative U.S. audiences about the war in Ukraine is important.
In this Q&A, @Kubicki_Adrian spoke to @CrisLeeMaza about how he became Poland's consul general and why he thinks talking to conservative audiences about the war in Ukraine is essential. https://t.co/CWgpcsgRnL pic.twitter.com/WM6NX1vvyS
— National Journal (@nationaljournal) March 28, 2023
What I'm reading:
MEP Alessandra Mussolini protests against wine labelling with health warnings by drinking a bottle of wine, at 10.30am.
March 30, 2023. Sub by @baglivo_s pic.twitter.com/HQdrru2XYP— Crazy Ass Moments in Italian Politics 🇮🇹 (@CrazyItalianPol) March 30, 2023
• Politico Europe has a curtain raiser for Bulgaria’s fifth general election, which they say is unlikely to break the long-running political deadlock. That means President Rumen Radev could be the winner again. Boryana Dzhambazova and Antoaneta Roussi ask whether Radev is an anti-corruption crusader or a pro-Russian stooge.
• In Finland, which is also going to the polls this weekend, a debate over indigenous issues has empowered the country’s nativist right ahead of a critical election, Foreign Policy reports.
• Montenegro's presidential runoff is also taking place today. Milo Đukanović, who has been on the Montenegrin political scene for decades, faces off against Jakov Milatović, a relative newcomer. Đukanović — a previous ally of Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević — has accused the current government of hosting pro-Serbian and pro-Russian elements.
• The European Union's backing for Libyan authorities who stop and detain migrants in the Mediterranean means the bloc has “aided and abetted” crimes against humanity, according to an investigator for a United Nations mission. Reuters has the story.
• As always, I recommend reading Meduza's newsletter, the Beet. This week they have an interesting article on the pitfalls of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley demarcation deal.
• A Russian intelligence operative in the guise of a Brazilian student attempted to penetrate the U.S. security establishment, according to an indictment the Justice Department filed in federal court. The Washington Post has the story.
• Russia’s Federal Security Service said it detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg for what it described as espionage.
Evan Gershkovich @evangershkovich was apparently detained while reporting on Prigozhin's Wagner. https://t.co/vY0scOYkk3
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 30, 2023
• Russia’s security and intelligence services achieved greater success in Ukraine than its army, according to a report by the Royal United Services Institute, a security think tank from the United Kingdom. “It is evident,” according to the report, “that the Russian special services managed to recruit a large agent network in Ukraine before the invasion and that much of the support apparatus has remained viable after the invasion, providing a steady stream of human intelligence to Russian forces.”
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the Financial Times reports.
• The European Union threatened sanctions against Belarus after Russia announced it would store tactical nuclear weapons in the Kremlin-aligned country, the Washington Post reports.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russia could not start until Western allies send more weapons, the BBC reports.
• Russia and Ukraine are ramping up their military forces near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant amid signs that the fighting may soon escalate, the New York Times reports. The nearby city of Melitopol may be the site of the anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive.
• Ukraine expelled pro-Russian clergy from a Kyiv cave monastery complex amid a significant schism between Ukraine’s Orthodox churches, Politico Europe reports.
• Five days before explosions damaged three of the four Nord Stream pipelines last year, a convoy of six Russian naval vessels was spotted in the area, German news site T-online reports, citing open-source intelligence research.
• Politico Europe explains why Russia might have been behind sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines and why all the theories about the explosions have holes in them.
• Serbia will host a Western military joint exercise for the first time since declaring a moratorium on exercises with foreign militaries following the start of the war in Ukraine, Balkan Insight reports.
• Four senior bankers were found guilty by a Swiss court of helping to launder tens of millions of francs linked personally to President Vladimir Putin through the country’s banking system, the Financial Times reports.
• Norway gave former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is currently imprisoned and says Russian agents are poisoning him, the Sjur Lindebrekke Award for promoting human rights and democracy, Agenda.GE reports. Georgia’s current Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, called the move an “insult.”
• Hungary ratified Finland’s NATO membership, the Financial Times reports. Finland’s accession is now imminent.
• Finland will become the 31st member of NATO now that Turkey’s parliament voted to approve its application this week, the BBC reports.
• More than 20 far-right Austrian members of parliament walked out of parliament during a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the BBC reports. The Freedom Party politicians argued that Zelenskyy’s speech violated Austria’s neutrality. The president of Austria’s lower house of parliament, Wolfgang Sobotka, pledged more financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
• France faced a new nationwide day of strikes and protests after some of the country’s worst street violence in years marred rallies, Reuters reports.
• Wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have invested hundreds of millions of dollars with Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, the New York Times reports. That follows Saudi Arabia’s investment of $2 billion into Kushner’s private equity firm. The investment reflects the continued efforts by former President Trump and his allies to profit from the close ties they built to the Arab world during his presidency and the desire of leaders in the region to remain on good terms with Kushner as Trump seeks the presidency in 2024.
• The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu survived a no-confidence vote in the Knesset, the country’s parliament, amid what is possibly the most significant wave of demonstrations in Israel’s history, CNBC reports.
• Civil unrest broke out in parts of Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for criticizing the government’s judicial overhaul, the New York Times reports.
• Israel’s consul-general in New York resigned following the escalating unrest.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would delay a key part of controversial plans to overhaul the justice system to prevent a “rupture among our people," the BBC reports.
• The Israeli government and the opposition began the first direct negotiations to reach a compromise on the controversial judicial overhaul, the New York Times reports. Four government negotiators and eight opposition counterparts held a meeting hosted by Israel’s figurehead president, Isaac Herzog.
• North Korea is engaging in an increasingly prolific cyberespionage operation – known as Advanced Persistent Threat 43 – that uses social engineering and fraudulent personas to gather intelligence, according to a new report released by cybersecurity firm Mandiant.
What the State Department is saying:
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