Sofia ANALYSIS Polit-Barometer GEORGI KARASIMEONOV(EDITOR) Year 18, Issue 4 – October-December 2018 n scandals in the ruling coalition lead to a gradual and constant erosion of elec­toral support for GERB and the United Patriots. Protests in the last few months have increased public dissatisfaction with the government, and it is obvious from all this that this trend will also continue in the coming months. Confidence in political institu ­tions continues to be at a critically low level, which increases the possibility of substan­tial shifting in electoral layers as a new factor emerges on the political arena. n continues to be torn by internal contradictions. Critical attitudes towards party leader Kornelia Ninova intensified after Yordan Michev was appointed editor-in-chief of the party newspaper Duma. An unprecedented petition of fifty members of the Nation ­al Council of the Party led to the removal of Michev. This result shows that Kornelia Ninova faces ever-stronger internal opposition, and this could negatively affect the party in the upcoming EP elections. n Scandals in the“United Patriots” led to an expected electoral drain. Conflicts between Volen Siderov and Valeri Simeonov will probably grow worse after the return of the NFSB leader as an MP in the National Assembly. Siderov’s desire to head a general list of the patriotic formations in the European parliamentary elections in which Nikolay Barekov’s“Reload Bulgaria” party would participate does not meet the approval of his coalition partners. The only thing that is preventing the“United Patriots” from breaking down at this stage is their stay in the government.