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Bulgaria: Polls due to open in parliamentary election | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Parliamentary elections are due to begin in Bulgaria with opinion polls predicting no outright winner. | |
Mass protests against low living standards and widespread corruption forced the government of the centre-right Gerb party to resign in February. | |
However, the run-up to Sunday's election has been marked by voter apathy and claims of fraud. | |
On Saturday prosecutors said they had seized 350,000 illegal ballot papers at a printing house. | |
The election campaign had already been marred by revelations of illegal wiretapping of politicians. | |
Latest opinion polls suggested the Gerb party - headed by former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov - and its main challenger the socialist BSP party were running neck-and-neck. | |
Gerb has pledged to keep debts under control while the socialists say they will spend more and create jobs. | |
Other parties expected to pass the 4% threshold needed to enter parliament are the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - which represents Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish minority - the ultra-nationalist Ataka, and the centrist Bulgaria of the Citizens. | |
However, the prospect of an election with no outright winner has raised fears of a hung parliament and further instability in the EU's poorest country. | |
Bulgaria's 6.9 million eligible voters can choose between 36 parties but turnout is predicted to be below 50%. | |
A day before the election, prosecutors revealed they had raided a printing house near the capital Sofia and seized 350,000 ballot papers that were printed over the legally fixed number. | |
BSP leader Sergei Stanishev described the discovery as a "scandal". | |
He said it showed there had been "preparation for total falsification of the elections". | |
The election campaign has also been marred by revelations of illegal wiretapping of political opponents, with prosecutors pointing the finger at former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov. | |
More than 250 international observers will monitor Sunday's election. |