Bulgarian voters expected to punish government

2009-07-05 13:25:01 -

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Bulgarians were voting Sunday in parliamentary elections expected to deal a blow to the corruption-tainted governing coalition, which many blame for failing to protect the Balkan country from the global economic downturn.
Pre-election surveys suggested Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's Socialist Party and its allies would suffer in Sunday's polls, while

the center-right opposition led by Sofia Mayor Boiko Borisov was expected to do well.
It was unclear, however, if Borisov's Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, or GERB Party, would have enough support to win an outright majority needed to form government without partnering with others in a coalition.
By 1 p.m. (1000 GMT), after seven hours of voting, some 29 percent of Bulgaria's 6.8 million eligible voters had cast their ballots, the central election commission said.
Voters were largely concerned with candidates' economic pledges for Bulgaria, the poorest member of the European Union with the lowest average salary in the bloc of ¤300 ($420) a month.
Though Stanishev's government was credited with securing EU membership in 2007, it has widely been blamed for failing to crack down on corruption and improve the quality of life for Bulgaria's 7.6 million population.
Opinion polls indicate more than a third of Bulgarians fear losing their jobs in the near future, though unemployment stands at a relatively low 7 percent.
The EU froze millions in aid last year amid allegations of fraud tolerated by the Socialist-led coalition, which has itself been plagued by scandals involving alleged money laundering and dubious spending. The ministries for corruption, agriculture and the environment also have been accused in corruption schemes in recent years, but only few low-profile cases have been taken to court.
Many Bulgarians have come to see the Socialist Party and its junior coalition partner _ the mainly Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms _ as being part of the problem rather than a credible solution.
In response, Borisov's Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, or GERB Party, has pledged to jail corrupt officials and crime bosses.
A poll published Saturday indicated Borisov's party could win up to 32 percent of Sunday's vote, with Stanishev's Socialists gaining just 22 percent. The poll, conducted by the National Public Opinion Center, gave no margin of error, but similar polls in the past have given an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The small, right-wing Blue Coalition has said it would be open to joining a coalition led by Borisov's party.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were monitoring the vote.
Allegations of vote-buying by the two main parties during last month's elections for European Parliament prompted several investigations, which have led to 15 cases being taken to court, police said. Transparency International said 16.4 percent of Bulgaria's votes for the EU assembly were suspect.
On Saturday, 50 reports of vote-buying in Sunday's vote were investigated with two leading to criminal prosecutions, police said. The maximum jail sentence for vote-buying in Bulgaria is six years.