Campaigning in Bulgaria ahead of Sunday’s early general election has ended, with candidates holding final rallies.

This will be Bulgaria’s eighth free general election since the collapse of communism in 1989.

The center-right GERB party, which resigned from office in February following protests over low living standards and corruption, is expected to garner the biggest number of votes, but is unlikely to win majority.

Bulgaria’s Socialist party is expected to rank second. The nationalist Attack, ethnic Turkish MRF and pro-business Bulgaria for the Citizens are all projected to beat the 4% threshold and enter parliament.

Election Day in Bulgaria on Sunday, May 12, will start with the opening of voting polls at 7 am and will end with their closing at 8 pm.

There could be exceptions at some locations, where polls might open at 6 am, but only with Central Electoral Commission’s written authorization. If there is a line at a voting poll at 8 pm, it will remain open, but no later than 9 pm. At 8 pm, the members of the poll's commission will collect the IDs of those in line and only the people who were present at closing time will be allowed to cast a ballot.

CEC has also adopted an operational plan for its work on Election Day and for vote counting.

A total of 6 868 455 individuals are included in voting lists. 160 972 have been removed – of them 739 prisoners, 7243 – under injunction, 378 have applied to vote at another location, 78 542 – to cast a ballot abroad, and 67 420 – to vote at a poll under the jurisdiction of their current address registration.

There will 11 676 voting polls in the country, but this number does not include the portable ones.

There will be 227 voting polls abroad in 57 countries.

A total 8,148 candidates are vying for seats in the 240-member parliament.

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