The center-right GERB party of former Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, won by a 4 percentage points margin most votes in Bulgaria's general elections, tallying 31.1 % against the Socialists on 27.1%, an exit poll shows.

Four Bulgarian parties will certainly make their way to the next Parliament, according to first forecasts of the Alfa Research agency.

These are the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB party, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, and their self-proclaimed arch enemies the far-right nationalist Ataka (Attack).

The right-wing Bulgaria for Citizens of former EU Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva is on the brink of the 4% threshold with 3.8%

GERB party won 31.1% or 97 seats.

It is followed by the Socialist Party, which garnered 27.1 % of the vote and will capture as many as 85 MPs in Bulgaria's 240-seat unicameral parliament.

Another 34 seats are expected to go to the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, which garnered 11 % of the vote.

The nationalist Ataka party ranked fourth, capitalizing on anger at corruption and poor living standards and has tapped on ethnic debate. It landed 8,8 % of the vote and is expected to secure 21 MP seats.

Stunningly for many none of the oldest "hardline" right-wing formations are going to be in the next Parliament.

From the right-wing parties, which are credited with throwing out the ex-communists who had pushed the country to the brink of financial crisis in the 90s, only Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, DSB, of former Prime Minister Ivan Kostov is close, garnering 3.5 % of the vote.

Despite purported landslide victory, the marginal conservative Order, Law and Justice has only 1.9%.

Election Day started 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 the Central Electoral Commission's (CEC) 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.

Turnout has been set at just below 48%, lower than four years ago.

A total of 38 parties and 7 coalitions with 8 148 candidates joined the race for 240 seats in Bulgaria's 42nd Parliament.

A total of 6 868 455 eligible voters have been urged to cast a ballot in the poll, which comes amid resentment and disappointment over unfulfilled expectations after a long and hard transition.

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

There are 227 voting polls abroad in 57 countries.

Bulgarian expats can cast a ballot only for parties, not for candidates' lists. Sunday's elections came amidst concerns over vote-buying and vote manipulations on an epidemic scale.

After the voting polls' election commissions prepare and sign the protocols about the ballots cast, for the first time ever, members of the particular commissions, candidates, observers, and political parties' representatives can obtain copies of these protocols. Each page of the copy must be signed by the chair of the commission, the deputy and the secretary and sealed with a stamp. This is expected to delay significantly the announcement of the first official results.

The copies of the protocols will be used for the parallel vote count to be done by the Austrian SORA. Its forecast is expected between 10 pm and midnight.

The elections were observed by a number of foreign and Bulgarian organizations.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, sent 109 observers, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PASE – 29, the Parliamentary Assembly for Black Sea Economic Cooperation - 4 observers.

Fifteen Bulgarian NGOs with a total of 11 878 members were also registered to monitor the elections.

Seven polling agencies are conducting exit polls – Afis, Gallup, Alfa Research, Mediana, Sova-Harris, and MBMD.

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