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Bulgaria's Ruling Party Leads In Major Cities For Local Elections, But With Reticent Support

By RFE/RL's Bulgarian ServiceOctober 27, 2019

SOFIA – Exit polls in Bulgaria found that the ruling center-right GERB party will maintain its nationwide dominance but with less support than four years ago, following the October 27 municipal and mayoral elections.

In Sofia, the nation's capital, the GERB's incumbent mayor Yordanka Fandakova is slated for a run-off for her fifth term with Maya Manolova, an independent backed by several opposition parties.

First-round Sofia mayoral election projections by Gallup and Alpha Research foresee Fandakova winning around 35 percent of the vote while Manolova getting between 25 and 26 percent.

About 100,000 fewer voters cast their ballot for Fandakova than in the previous mayoral race.

Aside from Sofia, the main challengers – the Socialists and a liberal pro-Western bloc – missed their mark of gaining outright victories in most of the remaining largest cities.

The Fandakova-Manolova faceoff is scheduled for November 3.

Outright GERB victories in mayoral races were projected in Burgas, Stara Zagora, and Veliko Tarnovo, with Varna pivoting on a potential second-round election.

A second round of voting may also take place in Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, Pazardzhik, Pleven, Ruse, Haskovo, and others.

Four years ago, the GERB won 22 of the 28 regional cities, with 11 of them winning in the first round. The political canvass looks different this time around.

In Blagoevgrad, incumbent mayor Atanas Kambitov of the GERB party leads by about 10 percent in front of the independent candidate Rumen Tomov, exit polls suggest.

In Varna, Ivan Portnih could win the first-round battle for a third term city mayor. Support for him hovers at 49.5 percent. His opponent is likely to be Anelia Klisarova of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

Her result, however, is too close to that of the leader of the Vazrajdane (revival) party, Kostadin Kostadinov.

Nationwide, voter turnout hovered at 43 percent among 6.2 million eligible voters, with observers saying many didn't come out to vote because they felt the outcome had been predetermined.

A total of 36,233 candidates ran for mayoral and municipal council seats.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's GERB party has won all but one major election since 2009.

In elections to the EU parliament in May, the GERB emerged as the leading party despite allegations of corruption against prominent party officials.

With reporting by dpa and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgarians-vote-in-municipal -mayoral-elections/30238608.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.