Exit polls suggest close competition in Bulgaria’s parliamentary elections Election News

[ad_1]
Former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s center-right GERB party has advanced in three polls, and the new centrist group in another.
Polls to run in the Bulgarian parliamentary elections point to a close race between the center-right GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and a new centrist group against corruption.
Alpha Research’s exit poll showed that GERB was the leader in Sunday’s election with 24.8 percent, while Gallup International was the new party, We Continue The Change, with the former with 25.7 percent.
The other two polls showed the GERB leader with about 23.5-24.7 percent of the vote, the third this year.
About 6.7 million voters also had the right to elect a new head of state on Sunday, with a total of 23 candidates running.
In the presidential vote, incumbent Rumen Radev, a strong critic of Borisov, was seen to have won 49 percent support in the first round of voting, according to two polls.
If no one receives more than half of the votes, the competition will go to a knockout between the first two candidates.
The results of the poll highlight deep political divisions after a decade of Borisov’s rule. They coincide with the rise in Coronavirus cases, the high energy cost and the widespread anti-corruption outrage in Bulgaria, the poorest member of the European Union.
‘For a better life’
Polls closed at 8pm (18:00 GMT). By 4:00 p.m., about 25.5 percent of the select voters had cast their ballots.
The country’s parliamentary and presidential elections were held amid a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. Mobile ballot boxes were made available for COVID-19 patients and people in quarantine.
Many voters said they were disappointed that the parties could not form a viable coalition when the April and July elections saw the return of broken parliaments.
“I would like the elections to be successful this time, so that we can have a new government for a better life,” pensioner Stanka Lenkova, 73, said at a polling station outside Sofia early Sunday.
Although the official results confirm that GERB is the largest party, with no obvious allies in parliament, the chances of forming a governing coalition are slim, in a legislature that will include at least six parties, political observers say.
The new Balkan faction may be better positioned to form a governing coalition with the support of possible partners and socialists from two small anti-graft groups, thus ending a long political impasse in the Balkan country.
[ad_2]
Source link