Bulgarian parliamentary poll amid high turnout, violations (Roundup)

Jul 5, 2009, 16:17 GMT

Sofia - Voting has ended Sunday in Bulgaria's parliamentary elections with exit polls projecting an opposition victory amid a lively turnout.

Agencies taking exit polls predicted that the GERB party of Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov defeated Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev's Socialists with 30 to 20 per cent of votes won.

But GERB was not expected to come anywhere near a clear-cut victory. With three or four smaller parties also expected to qualify for the legislature by winning at least 4 per cent of the votes, the poll is likely to pave the way for long, multi-party coalition talks.

Stanishev's three-way government coalition guided Bulgaria to European Union membership in 2007, but has failed to clean up the corruption and organized crime, which Borisov has harped on.

Stanishev's position was further aggravated by the global economic crisis, which has hit hard in Bulgaria, the EU's poorest state by far.

However, the reliability of exit polls is questionable, particularly as Bulgaria uses a complicated, mixed electoral system. The first certain results are not expected before Monday morning.

The turnout was noticeably higher than four years ago, with nearly 50 per cent of the 6.8 million voters casting their ballot by 5 pm, with two hours remaining in the election.

Election day was, as expected, marred by allegations of irregularities, particularly vote-buying, a practice in which parties pay leaders in poor communities, mostly among the Roma, to secure their support on election day.

Police launched an investigation against several people accused of buying and selling votes in European parliament elections, held a month ago, in which GERB also claimed the most votes.

Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the EU three years later, but remains plagued by poverty and widespread corruption, which last year spurred Brussels into suspending or scrapping a billion dollars worth of aid.