(30 Sep 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sofia - 30 September 2022
1. Wide of rally
2. Mid of Bulgarian and EU flags
3. Various of Kiril Petkov, election candidate and former Bulgarian Prime Minister, talking to supporters
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Kiril Petkov, election candidate and former Bulgarian Prime Minister:
"Continuing the Change (Petkov's party) will be number one again. We will surprise them like last time (last elections). Last time there was a big difference days before the official post that they were putting on TV, turns out that we won. This time we will win even more, and I expect we will be in coalition of three parties. And we will move Bulgaria forward as we have done in the first seven months, it will go all the way this time within a 4-year mandate. I am fully optimistic, and I think that the people that they are involve in corruption are really afraid of this ending. Hopefully on Sunday we will see."
5. Petkov on stage
6. Petkov addressing crowd UPSOUND (Bulgarian): "My first question is, do you want Borisov for another 12 years?"
7. Various of crowd
8. Close of banner reading (Bulgarian) "Bulgaria change or death"
9. Wide of rally, pan to stage
10. Wide of city centre
11. Exterior of Bulgaria's parliament building
12. Bulgarian flag
13. Various of election billboards
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Mario Mirev, Sofia resident:
"Well I think it is quite unpredictable, because we just started seeing some changes after like 20 years of (the) post-communist era. So I really hope that the people will vote for something new, for something different and be brave."
15. Mid of flags
16. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Maria Ilieva, Sofia resident:
"I will vote for change, for a good prime minister, and hopefully we will not have another election soon."
17. Wide of city centre
18. Various of statue in city centre
STORYLINE:
Bulgarians will go to the polls for the fourth time in less than two years in a general election overshadowed this time by the conflict in Ukraine, rising energy costs and a soaring inflation.  
Candidate and former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, is confident that Sunday's vote will yield positive results for his We Continue the Change party.
"This time we will win even more, and I expect we will be in coalition of three parties," he said at his final campaign rally in Sofia on Friday.
"We will move Bulgaria forward as we have done in the first seven months, it will go all the way this time within a 4-year mandate."
Pollsters expect that voters' fatigue and disillusionment with the political system will result in a low turnout and a fragmented parliament where populist and pro-Russian groups could increase their representation.  
The snap elections come after a coalition led by Petkov lost a no-confidence vote in June.
He claimed that Moscow used "hybrid war" tactics to bring down his government after it refused to pay gas bills in rubles and ordered the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomatic staff from Bulgaria.
Latest opinion polls suggest that up to seven parties could pass the 4 percent threshold to enter parliament in a contested vote on Sunday.
Despite a fallback in support for the GERB party of ex-Prime Minister Boyko Borissov in previous elections, it is tipped now to finish first.
A recent Gallup International survey ranked GERB first with 25.9%, followed by its main rival – Petkov's We Continue the Change party with 19.2%.
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