SOFIA
Opinion polls in Bulgaria have suggested there would be no outright winner in Sunday's parliamentary elections meaning the European Union member plagued by poverty and falling standards of living will have to forge a coalition government.
A latest questionnaire by polling company SKALA has suggested the race between the the center-right GERB party - headed by former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov - and its main rival socialist BSP is too close to call.
Other parties expected to pass the 4 per cent of 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.
Voters will choose between 38 parties for a new government and 227 polling stations were opened in 57 foreign countries.
The prospect of an election with no outright winner has created a horrible scenario of uncertainty for Bulgarian voters who lacked a government since February when Borisov was forced from power after intense popular protests over living standards and corruption.
In order to form a new government, President Rosen Plevneliev appointed Marin Raikov, a respected diplomat as interim prime minister in March.
Polls in Bulgaria opened at 7 a.m. and are due to close at 8 p.m.
