Bulgarians have voted in the third election this year to break the blockade by Reuters

Author: Tsvetelia Tsolova

SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria began voting on Sunday in a third parliamentary election this year, and opinion polls point to another crucial outcome that could hinder efforts to tackle high energy prices, the jump in COVID-19 and widespread corruption.

Another failure to break the long-standing political impasse and form a cabinet in the poorest state in the European Union could also slow the country’s plans to adopt the euro by 2024.

Elections for president will also be held on Sunday. According to opinion polls, Rumen Radev, 58, is set to win the election again for a second five-year term, probably on November 21 after a vote.

Bulgaria has been plagued by political uncertainty since April, when elections ended the decade-long rule of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his center-right GERB party after mass protests against the graft against him last year.

Political differences and rivalries prevented his opponents, the so-called parties to change, from forming a governing coalition after the April elections and another vote in July.

The GERB has taken advantage of the blockade, rising energy costs and rising COVID-19 cases and deaths in the EU country with the fewest vaccinated vaccines, helping to strengthen support between loyal parties.

On election day, a fire at a COVID-19 hospital in the southern city of Sliven was blocked by fire, killing three patients.

Recent polls support 24% of GERB voters, putting them on the path to becoming the largest in parliament.

But Borissov, 62, a former bodyguard for former communist leader Todor Zhivkov, is unlikely to find allies to form a coalition, analysts say.

Created by two former interim ministers who studied at Harvard, a new centrist party that has promised “zero corruption” is seen as having the best chance of leading talks for a new administration with two other anti-graft factions and the Socialists.

Called “We’re Continuing Change,” the new party appears to be tied to the Socialists for second place, both with support of about 15-16%.

“For now, there is likely to be a government around the so-called party of change and the Socialists,” analyst Dobromir Zhivkov said in a Market Links survey.

Ivailo Mihailov, a 52-year-old engineer, said Sunday’s election would provide a governing coalition to fix the country’s top grafts, which Transparency International ranked as the most corrupt state in the EU.

“Until a major politician and businessman is actually punished, nothing good will happen,” he said.

Thousands of Bulgarians joined the street protests in mid-2020, accusing Borissov of joining the Attorney General to benefit local oligarchs and businesses close to his GERB party.

Borisov denies being wrong.

Polls will close at 20:00 (1800 GMT).