Preliminary results of parliamentary elections held here Sunday indicated that neither of the two leading parties garnered a strong mandate to govern Bulgaria or build a lasting coalition, an outcome likely to prolong the period of political instability in the European Union's poorest member.
Preliminary results of parliamentary elections held here Sunday
indicated that neither of the two leading parties garnered a strong mandate to
govern
Bulgaria
or
build a lasting coalition, an outcome likely to prolong the period of political
instability in the European Union's poorest member.
The right-leaning Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, or GERB, won
about 30% of the vote, according to an exit poll cited on Bulgarian National
Television, a public broadcaster. Its most powerful opponent, the Socialist
Party, won some 25%.
Bulgarians are holding early elections to the National Assembly, the country's
unicameral parliament, after the GERB-led government of Prime Minister Boyko
Borisov stepped down in February amid nationwide protests.
Even though Mr. Borisov's party has likely won the highest number of votes, it
won't have enough seats in parliament to govern alone, according to the exit
poll. The Movement for Rights and Liberties, a party comprised mostly of
Bulgarians of Turkish ethnicity, won some 10% of the vote, while the country's
largest nationalist party, Ataka, won 8%. None of the other parties in the race
likely passed the 4% threshold that would entitle them to get parliamentary
seats, according to the poll.
Parliament is expected therefore to be less fragmented than previously thought,
but with no clear political allies, Mr. Borisov's party will struggle to form a
government despite winning the most votes. The three other parties likely to
make it to parliament have said they wouldn't support the ex-prime minister.
A former bodyguard to the country's Soviet-era dictator, Mr. Borisov has
pledged to continue an austerity drive out of the desire to keep the national
currency, the lev, pegged to the euro.
His fall from power happened amid fiery protests and several self-immolations
by people who claimed the country was gripped by poverty.
The Socialists said the former government hasn't taken into account the social
cost of budget austerity.
The two main contenders in the vote traded blows over the weekend over several hundred
thousand ballots the authorities seized from a printer and said were
questionable. The Socialist leader, Sergei Stanishev, said his rival was
planning to use the ballots to rig the vote, a claim Mr. Borisov rejected.
Despite concerns of attempted manipulation of the election by various parties,
"the state prosecutor and other institutions are doing their jobs,"
said Thomas Rymer, spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in
Europe
, or OSCE, which sent more than 200 observers to monitor
the vote. Once the results are in and verified, the OSCE will Monday say
whether the election proceeded fairly, he added.
Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev earlier in the day urged voters to go to
the polls, saying that attempts to manipulate the outcome will fail as the
country's institutions are ensuring the elections take place fairly.
While the vote appears to be going smoothly, local media have reported that
nationwide 17 people had been arrested for trying to pay citizens to cast votes
for particular parties.
Iva Pavlova, 63 years old, said that "the political situation is very
complicated, but I expect better things will come" and added that reports
of some illegally produced ballots being confiscated by authorities is actually
encouraging because it shows that "the state prosecutor is finally doing
its job."
Konstantin Dragnev, 82, voting in central
Sofia
, said
that he was shocked by all the fraud allegations, wire-tapping and extra ballot
scandals. But he takes it in stride. "Generally, this kind of stuff always
happens, it's just mudslinging."
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