Socialists Win Elections Again

Incumbent President Georgi Parvanov was re-elected with a majority of 77.6% votes vs. 22.4% in favour of nationalist opponent Volen Siderov, according to exit polls of Scala agency. Exit polls were released by Bulgarian media immediately after the last polling station closed at some time after 7 pm on Sunday. Alpha Research quoted preliminary figures of 77.1% for Georgi Parvanov and 21.9% cast for Volen Siderov.

Voter turnout averaged the levels from the first round and hardly exceeded 40%, preliminary data showed. Unlike the first election round, the turnout doesn’t play a role here and the candidate who garnered the larger amount of the ballots cast became Bulgari’s next president. Parvanov faced Siderov in a run-off because the turnout in the first round of the elections fell below the 50 % of eligible voters required for a straightaway victory.