Former air force commander Rumen Radev narrowly won the first round of presidential elections in Bulgaria on Sunday, exit polls showed, raising prospects of political instability in the small Black Sea state and a strategic shift towards Russia.

Mr Radev, a 53-year old ally of the opposition Socialist party, has called for an end of European Union sanctions against Russia and has said EU member Bulgaria should hedge its bets when it comes to international alliances.

Exit polls by Alpha Research and Gallup International showed Radev winning 24.8-26.7 per cent of the vote in which 20 other candidates also competed. First partial results will be released early on Monday.

A failure to secure an overall majority would mean that Radev will face a runoff vote next Sunday against runner-up Tsetska Tsacheva, 58, the centre-right GERB ruling party candidate.

Opinion polls conducted ahead of the election showed Mr Radev was likely to lose the first round but win the runoff. Sunday’s exit polls showed Mr Tsacheva winning 23.5-22.5 per cent of the vote.

GERB prime minister Boiko Borisov has said he would resign if Mr Tsacheva loses the first round. Even he doesn’t, observers say, opposition groupings could try to unseat his minority government after the presidential election.

“I am firmly convinced that the prime minister has no reason to resign,” said Liliana Pavlova, construction minister in Mr Borisov’s minority government after the exit polls were published.

Under the Bulgarian constitution, the president’s job is largely ceremonial but he or she can influence public opinion, veto legislation and lobby for policies. </s> SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarians on Sunday were choosing a new president who will have to face both a possible rise in migrants from neighboring Turkey and growing tensions between Russia and the West.

For the first time, voting in the presidential election is compulsory for the Balkan nation’s 6.8 million voters. Also on the ballot is a referendum on electoral process issues.

Opinion polls suggest that none of Bulgaria’s 21 presidential candidates are likely to win in the first round by getting more than the required 50 percent of the vote, and that a presidential runoff will be held on Nov. 13.

The front-runner is the Parliament speaker, Tsetska Tsacheva, a 58-year-old lawyer and member of the governing center-right GERB party of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov. Unlike her party leader, however, she is not a charismatic figure.

To become the first female president of the country of 7.2 million people, Tsacheva must defeat the opposition Socialist contender Rumen Radev, 53, a former fighter pilot and Bulgarian air force chief.

If Tsacheva is elected, she is widely expected to continue the pro-Europe foreign policy of incumbent Rosen Plevneliev, while her main opponent is seen as more sympathetic to Russia.

Radev has repeatedly said he would comply with Bulgaria’s European obligations but has called for better relations with Russia and called for lifting sanctions against Russia, arguing that “being pro-European does not mean being anti-Russian.”

A recent poll by Gallup International Balkan suggests the presidential election will go to a second round, with Tsacheva facing Radev. The poll conducted Oct. 24-31 among 820 Bulgarians found Tsacheva supported by 27.2 percent and Radev by 23.1 percent. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Polling stations will close at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) and preliminary results will be available 90 minutes later. Final results will be announced Tuesday. </s> Presidential candidate of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Rumen Radev walks with his wife Desislava after casting his vote at a polling station during a presidential election in Sofia, Bulgaria, November 13, 2016. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Former Bulgarian air force commander Rumen Radev won the decisive round of Sunday’s presidential elections in Bulgaria, exit polls by Alpha Research and Gallup International showed.

Radev, 53, backed by the opposition Socialists, won 58.1-58.5 percent of the vote, compared with 35.3-35.7 percent for Tsetska Tsacheva, the 58-year-old candidate of the ruling center-right GERB party, the polls said. </s> Bulgarian socialist ally Rumen Radev, a Russia-friendly newcomer to politics, won yesterday’s presidential election by a large margin, exit polls showed, possibly paving the way for months of political instability in the small Black Sea state.

A former air force commander, Radev campaigned on strong anti-migrant rhetoric and an argument that it was in the country’s interest to find a balance between the requirements of its EU membership and better ties with Russia.

Radev, 53, backed by the opposition Socialists, won 58.1-58.5 per cent of the vote, compared with 35.3-35.7 per cent for Tsetska Tsacheva, the 58-year-old candidate of the ruling centre-right GERB party, the polls showed.

The general’s strong showing could undermine the minority government of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, who has signalled he may resign if Radev wins the election.

If he doesn’t, opposition groupings could call for a parliamentary no-confidence vote in his cabinet.

“The main conclusion is that hope and desire for change won over fear, which both Borisov and GERB tried to propagate,” said Zhelyo Boichev, a senior Socialist party politician. Radev has benefited from discontent with the government over his perceived failure to make significant progress in rooting out corruption, as well as slow public-sector reforms. – (Reuters) </s> Opinion polls show ruling party candidate Tsetska Tsacheva, 58, is likely to narrowly win the ballot but lose a subsequent runoff to Rumen Radev, 53, a Socialist Party ally who wants to end European Union sanctions against Moscow.

"The vote on Sunday will show whether we have the right to rule the country in the next two years," Prime Minister Boiko Borisov told supporters at the close of the campaign.

If Tsacheva does lose, Radev's Socialists and other opposition groupings could try to unseat the center-right GERB party's minority government and trigger early parliamentary elections, observers say.

That would lead to months of political uncertainty and a further slowdown in reforms, much needed after the collapse of Bulgaria's fourth largest bank and massive anti-corruption protests that helped GERB win parliamentary elections in 2014.

Public disappointment over reform progress eroded support for GERB, while Tsacheva is seen as lacking the charisma of Prime Minister Borisov.

"I will vote for General Radev because he hasn't been involved in dirty political games, so far," said 68-year-old pensioner Dimitar Tashev. "He is not a member of any political party and he deserves a chance."

Voting starts at 07.000 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and polls close at 20.00 p.m.

Latest opinion polls showed parliament speaker Tsacheva winning with 27.2-26.3 percent of the vote, against Radev's 22.5-23.1 percent.

Nineteen other candidates are also running and most polls show Radev could win a runoff vote on Nov. 13, which has to be held between top two contenders if no one wins an overall majority.

Radev, a former air force commander, has campaigned largely on a promise of closer ties with Moscow, arguing the small European Union state - fully dependent on Russian energy - should hedge its bets when it comes to strategic alliances.

Bulgaria, seen as the Kremlin's most pliable satellite in Soviet times, has long been an anomaly in Europe, a country within EU and NATO structures yet feeling close to Russia.

"Bulgaria is a small country, we do not have resources and it is naive to go against Russia," said Kalin Dragiev, 49, shop owner. "Politicians must accept that Bulgaria badly needs Russia ...I will probably vote for Radev but I still think that Tsacheva is the favorite."

EU sanctions imposed on Moscow over its role in pro-Russian separatist conflict in Ukraine have hurt NATO member Bulgaria financially.

Most power in the country of 7.2 million rests with the prime minister and parliament, but the president leads the armed forces and can veto legislation, sign international treaties and appoint ambassadors. </s> Former prime minister Boyko Borisov's enthusiastically pro-EU GERB party and the Socialist Party (BSP) are both seen garnering around 30 percent in Bulgaria vote (AFP Photo/Dimitar DILKOFF)

Sofia (AFP) - Bulgarian voters went to the polls Sunday in a tightly fought election pitting Socialists seen as closer to Russia against two-time centre-right premier Boyko Borisov, who is seeking another comeback.

Opinion polls ahead of the vote in the European Union's poorest country, where the average monthly salary is just 500 euros ($540) and corruption is rife, also indicated a strong showing by nationalists.

A close result is expected between the karate-kicking Borisov's enthusiastically pro-European Union GERB party and the Socialist Party (BSP), newly led by the energetic Kornelia Ninova.

GERB had a narrow lead in an early exit poll -- published by local media in defiance of a ban on releasing early results -- with 31.6 percent to the BSP's 30.8 percent.

It is the ex-communist nation's third election in four years and turnout at 1 pm (1000 GMT) was just over 25 percent -- two points higher than at the same point in the last parliamentary election in 2014.

"I voted for a stable, predictable and united Bulgaria," Borisov said after casting his ballot, adding: "Bulgarians must decide today who is fit to lead this kind of politics so let them choose."

The scourge of graft -- ever-present in Bulgaria -- loomed over the poll, with prosecutors saying 79 electoral fraud probes had been launched. The Nova television channel said it had filmed ballots being offered for sale for as little as 15 euros each.

Socialist chief Ninova denied that her party's perceived Russian sympathies would have any impact if it took office.

"No foreign country, eastern or western, should be allowed to influence Bulgarian politics," she said.

Borisov, 57, once a bodyguard for Bulgaria's last communist leader, has long been the dominant figure in national politics, serving as premier from 2009 to 2013 and again from 2014 to 2017.

In between, the BSP was in power for barely a year.

Both times Borisov quit early, first in 2013 after mass protests and then last November after his candidate for the presidency was beaten by an air force general backed by the BSP.

Many voters now seem to be turning away from the main parties towards groups on the fringes, or are not bothering to vote.

"The big parties are totally disconnected from the reality of what is going on in Bulgaria and that is outright irresponsible," said IT worker Alexander Naydenov, 35.

"That is why I voted for one of the smaller parties with the hope that they can act as a balance to the big ones."

If Ninova becomes premier, it raises the prospect of NATO member Bulgaria, which has long walked a tightrope between East and West, drifting more towards Moscow.

Ninova has said she is not content with Bulgaria being a "second-class member" of the EU and that she will veto an extension of sanctions imposed by Brussels on Moscow.

Russia, which has long had close cultural and economic ties with Bulgaria, has been accused of seeking to expand its influence in other Balkan countries in recent months.

But Borisov has also said that he wants more "pragmatic" ties with Russia and Ninova, 48, insists that she remains committed to the EU.

"We are the party that ushered Bulgaria into the European Union and NATO and we stand by (our obligations in) these organisations," she told AFP in a recent interview.

Whichever party comes first will find it hard to form a coalition in what will likely be a highly fragmented parliament and the resulting government may not last long.

Both of the main players have ruled out a tie-up with the MRF party representing Bulgaria's Turkish minority, expected to get between eight and 11 percent of the vote.

Bulgaria is home to a 700,000-strong Muslim minority, most of them ethnic Turks, while at least 200,000 ethnic Turks with Bulgarian passports live in Turkey.

Ankara's support for a new party, Dost, which unlike the MRF fervently backs Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has fuelled a spat in recent days.

This in turn has boosted the United Patriots nationalists, who blocked the border on Friday to stop voters coming in from Turkey, and who may come third.

Another potential coalition partner is Veselin Mareshki, a colourful populist who likes being called the Bulgarian Donald Trump.
Bulgarians head to the polls in a presidential runoff between BSP backed Rumen Radev, of the socialist opposition, and Tsetska Tsacheva, Chairwoman of the National Assembly, from incumbent prime-minister Boyko Borisov's conservative GERB. Exit polls by Alpha Research and Gallup International show Radev with about 58 percent of the vote with Tsacheva getting around 35 percent.