Georgi Karasimeonov(Ed.) BA R O M E T ER Bulgaria’s Political Parties Year 15, Issue 3, July-September 2015 The European Migrant Crisis has a significant impact on the political situation in the country. At this stage we do not observe an intense migrant flow towards Bulgaria, but the expectations, expressed also by Prime Minister Borisov, are that in the following months the situation could change completely and there might be an influx of tens of thousands of refugees to the country. This might enhance society’s apprehensions and could escalate the political debate on the issue. Until now GERB’s government stands firm and, despite the contradictions with its co ­alition partners, the party and above all, Prime Minister Borisov, manages to find con ­sensus on controversial issues such as the constitutional reform, for example. It seems that the party will win the local elections and, by doing so, will consolidate its leading political role in the country. The internal conflicts within the Reformist Bloc continue and this proves to be a system ­atic weakness of the coalition. For the time being, however, the bloc is rallied together only by its involvement in executive power. Regardless of their differences, the reform ­ists managed to agree on a joint registration for the local elections and, for the time being at least, it seems that the disputes have been settled, bearing in mind the bigger goal at hand- to perform well at the elections. BSP is still unable to overcome the heavy loss from last year’s parliamentary elections. The party proves to be weak in opposition and finds it difficult to articulate the issues on which it can attack the government convincingly. Very often BSP is left in isolation on important topics such as the judicial reform and the constitutional changes, and the party’s arguments remain misunderstood and unclear. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Office Bulgaria Analyses