Whoever wins the presidential election in Bulgaria, doubts will grow over the political future of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the Financial Times quotes commentators as saying.

The contest could result in a resignation of the central-right government, "early parliamentary elections and a struggle over how friendly the EU’s poorest member state should be with Russia," according to the newspaper.

"It will be difficult to avoid snap elections next spring" if the main ruling party's candidate, Tsetska Tsacheva, loses the vote, Daniel Smilov, of the Sofia-based Centre for Liberal Strategies, is quoted as saying.

Both leading candidates, Tsacheva and socialist opposition-backed Rumen Radev, could have wooed "Russophile elements of the electorate by promising to work for the removal of the sanctions."

The FT's story is available here.