Centre-right GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov ahead in three surveys, while new centrist group leads in another.
Exit polls in Bulgaria’s parliamentary election indicate a tight race between the centre-right GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and a new centrist, anti-corruption group.
Alpha Research’s exit poll showed GERB narrowly leading Sunday’s election with 24.8 percent, while Gallup International saw the new faction, We Continue The Change, coming first with 25.7 percent.
Two other exit polls showed GERB leading with about 23.5-24.7 percent of the vote, the third held this year.
Some 6.7 million voters were also eligible to elect a new head of state on Sunday, with a total of 23 candidates in the running.
In the presidential vote, incumbent Rumen Radev, a harsh critic of Borisov, was seen winning about 49 percent support in the first-round vote, two exit polls showed.
If no one receives more than half of the votes, the race will go to a runoff between the top two candidates.
The close poll results underscore deep political divisions after a decade of Borisov’s rule. They coincide with a rise in coronavirus cases, high energy costs and anger at widespread corruption in Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest member.
‘For a better life’
Polling stations closed at 8pm (18:00 GMT). By 4pm, about 25.5 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots.
The country’s parliamentary and presidential elections took place amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. Mobile ballot boxes had been made available for COVID-19 patients and people in quarantine.
Many voters had said they were disheartened by parties’ failure to cobble together a workable coalition after inconclusive elections in April and July returned fractured parliaments.
“I wish the elections are successful this time so that we have a new government for a better life,” pensioner Stanka Lenkova, 73, said at a polling station on the outskirts of Sofia earlier on Sunday.
Even if official results confirm GERB as the largest party, with no obvious allies in parliament, its chances of forging a ruling coalition are slim, in a legislature set to house at least six parties, political observers say.
The new faction may be better positioned to forge a ruling coalition with the support of likely partners in two small anti-graft groupings and the Socialists, thereby ending a prolonged political impasse in the Balkan country.
Exit polls suggest tight race in Bulgaria parliamentary election
Source: News Central Viral
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