Bulgaria’s Gerb party, which led the country for a decade, and popular showman Slavi Trifonov's newly formed There Are Such People have almost equal support ahead of the July 11 snap general election, a poll carried out by Gallup International showed.

While Gerb still holds the first place with 22.8%, it is losing support compared to the April 4 general election when it took 26% of the votes. At the same time, There Are Such People, which remains second, is gaining more support compared to the April vote – 20.1% compared to around 17% previously.

The other newcomer to the previous parliament, reformist Democratic Bulgaria, is also increasing its support, ranking fourth with 11.6% (up from around 9% in April) after the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which remains third with 16.1%.

The ethnic-Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) would get 11.2%, putting it in fifth place. The party came fourth in April, ahead of Democratic Bulgaria.

The third new political establishment that passed the 4% threshold in April, Stand up! Thugs out!, will make it to parliament once again, gaining 5.6% of the votes.

The poll shows that the three new political formations would again fail to get a stable majority. Following the April 4 vote, There Are Such People gave up trying to form a government, saying it lacks enough partners in parliament for majority. All the political parties in the parliament were willing to support Trifonov for a ruling coalition, but the showman-turned-politician said his party could only find common ground with Democratic Bulgaria and Stand up! Thugs out!

The poll also showed that far-right parties such as VMRO, Volya, National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB) and Ataka might pass the 4% threshold if they unite for the July 11 vote. In April, none of these parties made it into the parliament.

57.9% of all respondents said they will definitely vote in July despite the vacation season, while 16.7% said they would most likely vote. Only 13.7% of people surveyed said they would definitely not vote, while 8.7% would rather not vote.