Opposition wins Bulgarian parliamentary poll (2nd Roundup)

Jul 5, 2009, 18:24 GMT

Sofia - The centre-right opposition dominated Bulgarian parliamentary elections Sunday, inflicting a defeat on Socialist Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev's coalition, according to exit polls.

Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov's GERB party claimed 106 out of the 240 seats as Stanishev paid the price for failing to crack down on corruption and the economic downturn just 18 months after ushering his country into the European Union.

Embezzlement of EU funds spurred Brussels into suspending or scrapping 1 billion dollars' worth of aid to Bulgaria last year.

Even Sunday's polls served as a way out of prison for some of the officials on trial for the embezzlement, as they ran for seats in the parliament and the law guarantees them immunity during their campaign and term of office, should they win.

Also, while most Bulgarians euphorically counted down until the EU accession, they quickly faced off with the reality of being by far the poorest nation of the 27 in the bloc, with an average salary of just 300 dollars and pensions trailing even that.

According to early unofficial results, the Socialist Party won only 48 seats.

Several smaller parties, including the Movement for Rights and Freedoms of the ethnic Turks and the xenophobic, anti-EU far-right Ataka party, also qualified for the legislature.

The outcome appears to have averted a stalemate, which some analysts had predicted along with a quick repeat of the elections, sociologist Andrei Raichev said.

The turnout of 53 per cent among the 6.8 million voters, provided by unofficial sources, was significantly higher than four years before.

The election day was again, as in the vote for the European parliament a month ago, marred by allegations of vote-buying, widely practiced by parties among the poor, particularly among the Roma, a 5-per-cent minority.