Sofia ANALYSIS Polit-Barometer GEORGI KARASIMEONOV(EDITOR) Year 19, Issue 1 – January-March 2019 n has de facto entered the election campaign with a noisy scandal around luxu­ry apartments bought by people in power at low prices. This has led to a strong public response and has become the number one theme in the public domain. These events show that there will be an intensified election campaign with a focus on compromising situations and black PR, and European topics will probably fade into the background. n The apartment scandal seriously hit the reputation of GERB. Turning this case into the topic of the day put the party’s election campaign at risk. With demanding resignations, especially that of Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Boyko Borisov took the only possible step to mi ­nimise the damage. From now on, GERB will count on full mobilisation of its structures to win the election. There is a lot of stake for GERB – as early parliamentary elections may be on in case of a weak result. n The fact that BSP left the National Assembly has turned the party into a radical oppo ­sition. This move, however, ruins Bulgarian parliamentarism and erodes even the low trust in the institution. BSP does not profit from this step, not even on an internal party basis. Their walking out of parliament has played its part in GERB’s decision to return the old version of the preference to the Electoral Code, but the boycott has continued to play a counterproductive role.