00:01Bulgaria heads to the pools this Sunday for its eighth parliamentary election in five years.
00:06The country is the poorest in the European Union and the electorate is exhausted by a prolonged political crisis.
00:12And on paper, Bulgaria is a recent European success story, having finally adopted the Euro on the 1st of January
00:19and joined Schengen.
00:20But there is a big Euro hangover. On the ground, citizens feel impoverished and ignored by the political class.
00:28So who is stepping in to fill the void?
00:33This profound frustration has set the stage for a bitter showdown between two major figures.
00:38One side is Borko Borisov. He is the veteran center-right leader of the GERB party.
00:44While firmly pro-European, his decade in power was plagued by scandals, making him the symbol of the entrenched establishment.
00:52Facing him is Rumen Radev, the left-leaning former president, who sensationally resigned in January to run for prime minister.
01:01And Radev is riding a wave of populist anger, campaigning to dismantle the oligarchy.
01:06But his vocal opposition to military aid for Ukraine and softer stance on Moscow have left Western allies alarmed.
01:14And although polls show Radev leading Borisov 31 to 21 percent, neither is close to a majority,
01:22leaving the winner to inevitably cobble together a complicated coalition.
01:27And the battle for control is fierce.
01:30Just weeks before the vote, authorities detained over 200 people for electoral coercion.
01:37And the tactics are shocking.
01:39Some local officials tricked individuals into believing their state-funded winter heating and hot lunches were personal gifts from politicians.
01:47So Sunday is about much more than electing a government.
01:51It will determine whether the country can finally address these deep structural problems
01:56and rebuild public trust in the political system.
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