Exit polls conducted on a proportion of those who did shrug off apathy and the soaking conditions to make a pick suggested it was neck and neck between the ruling Socialist Party and a new centre-right entity.
The surveys by four different institutes after polls closed at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) indicated the Socialists and the GERB would each capture five of the 18 European Parliament seats up for grabs.
The two smaller members of the Socialists' ruling coalition would win five seats between them, while ultra-nationalist Ataka -- the only party standing on an anti-EU platform -- would scoop three, exit polls showed.
The leader of the Socialists' parliamentary group, Mihail Mikov, blamed the unexpectedly poor result for the ruling party on "the low turnout and the (corruption) scandal."
Rampant corruption and the failure of the judiciary to put mafia bosses and crooked top officials behind bars remain a major issue in Bulgaria less than six months after it joined the European Union on January 1.
Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev moved quickly to stave off the recent crisis -- which is being closely watched by Brussels -- forcing the economy and energy minister to take a leave of absence and sacking two junior ministers.
But the pressure could be back on the government if the GERB, a populist party led by former crime-buster turned Sofia mayor Boiko Borisov, is confirmed to have drawn such a strong support in the European polls.
"The scandal in the executive and the judiciary branch drowned the last hopes of the people for some honesty, morality and responsibility in politics," Borisov told journalists after casting his ballot.
Borisov has said he may call for early general elections if his new party pulls off a surprise victory in the polls.
Analysts say he is unlikely to follow through with the threat given the fact the ruling coalition holds 168 of the 240 seats in Bulgaria's parliament.
Publishing exit polls during voting is prohibited in Bulgaria, but private Bulgarian news agencies and radios have run information from polling institutes under cover of various contests, book ratings and even temperature forecasts.
The fact that so few of Bulgaria's 6.7 million voters bothered to turn out for Sunday's poll was no surprise to many.
"Few people will probably show up at the stations today but if you want to have the right to find fault, you have to vote," 57-year-old Maya Moneva told AFP under drizzling rain outside a polling station in downtown Sofia.
"Lashing out at the government for failing to curb crime and corruption is easy but voting is what helps bring on the change," she added.
Final results are not expected until Monday.
Source : news.yahoo.com
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