Bulgaria Opposition GERB Wins Overwhelmingly with over 40% - Exit Poll

The centre-right opposition GERB party of Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov expectedly won most votes in Bulgaria's general elections, tallying 41,8 % against the Socialists on 17,1%, but not an outright majority, an exit poll shows.

Five Bulgarian parties will certainly make their way to the next parliament, according to first forecasts of Gallup agency.

These are the popular GERB party, which has campaigned hard on promises to jail corrupt officials and organised crime bosses, the Socialist party, the ethnic Turkish party and their arch enemies the nationalist Attack and the Blue coalition, which brings together the biggest right-wing formations.

The opposition GERB party won a landslide victory over the ruling Socialists with 41,8% of the vote. GERB, whose founder, informal leader and most popular face is Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov is expected to secure between 90-106 seats in the national parliament.

It is followed by the ruling Socialist Party, which garnered 17,1 % of the vote and will capture as many as between 56-68 MPs in Bulgaria's 240-seat unicameral parliament.

Another 32-36 seats are expected to go to the second partner in the ruling coalition, the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which garnered 11,6 % of the vote.

Fourth ranked the nationalist Attack party, which has capitalized 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.

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, also passed the 4% threshold, set by the Parliament.

The Blue Coalition, bringing together the Union of Democratic Forces of Martin Dimitrov and the hard-line rightists from Democrats for Strong Bulgaria of former Prime Minister Ivan Kostov garnered 7,9 % of the vote.

Two other parties - Lider and the Order, Law and Justice - are also likely to win at least 4 % of the votes to enter the race for the 240 legislative seats.

The exit poll showed Lider, sponsored by the controversial energy tycoon Hristo Kovachki, running at 3,9 % of the vote, while the conservative Order, Law and Justice came in at 4,4%.

Voting started at 6 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) and ended at 7 p.m., with exit polls out shortly after close.

Turnout has been set at just below 50%, similar to four years ago.

These were Bulgaria's first general elections after the country's accession to the European Union and are said to be crucial with regard to Brussels' trust and the revival of the economy, which has been hit hard by the global financial crisis.

A total of 6 884 271 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.

The Socialist-led three-way coalition of Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev managed to usher Bulgaria into the European Union in 2007, but has been harshly criticized both at home and abroad for its failure to reform slow and corrupt courts, curb the powerful organized crime and clear up its act in the absorption of EU development funds. Blatant abuse by officials made Brussels suspend or scrap millions of euros in aid planned for agriculture and infrastructure.

The backlash that the ruling coalition, including the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the centrist National Movement for Stability and Prosperity, faces has fuelled the popularity of Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov's GERB party, which is currently not represented in parliament. GERB already won the most votes a month ago in European Parliament elections, defeating the Socialists.

Sunday's elections came amidst concerns over vote-buying on an epidemic scale and have turned into a chance for suspected criminals to escape legal proceedings against them. Bulgarian law grants immunity from prosecution to candidates, and several facing charges of corruption and organised crime have registered to stand.

The elections were observed by a number of foreign and Bulgarian organizations. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe sent 24 observers, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe - 19 observers.

14 Iraqi observers accompanied by officials of the National Democratic Institute in the USA also attended the Bulgarian Election Day. The Iraqis are interested in observing the electoral process in Bulgaria in order to learn from the Bulgarian experience.

Nine Bulgarian sociological agencies with 4 971 pollsters monitored the elections at 2 281 polling stations conducting exit poll research.

Under local legislation the Central Electoral Committee has to announce the final results and the distribution of MP seats no later than July 9. The names of the newly elected members of parliament should be known on July 12 at the latest.

Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov has announced plans to convene the new parliament as early as on July 14 amidst expectations that the new cabinet will be born in heavy labor.