The Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the party supported mainly by Bulgarians of ethnic Turkish descent, took the lead with 21.7 per cent of votes in the country's first European Parliament elections.

According to polling agency Sova Harris, at about 9pm with 95 per cent of votes counted, the MRF had 21.7 per cent, the Bulgarian Socialist Party-led Platform of European Socialists 21.3 per cent and GERB, the party formed around Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov, 21.2 per cent.

Five parties won enough votes to get a share of Bulgaria's 18 seats in the European Parliament.

Ultra-nationalist party Ataka and the National Movement Simeon II were the other two parties.

This was the first time that GERB, formally constituted in 2006, took part in an election in Bulgaria. Borissov, the former Interior Ministry chief secretary, has on several occasions called for Bulgaria to hold early parliamentary elections, and the MEP election result could possibly strengthen his hand.

The results were projected on the basis of estimates by the Sova Harris polling agency. It will take at least a day for firmer, more official figures to be released.

Voters had a choice of 218 candidates in a total of 11 party lists, three coalition lists, and two independent candidates.

Voter turnout was estimated at 26 per cent. About 6.7 million people were eligible to vote, but a low voter turnout was expected, with political commentators saying that disillusionment with Bulgaria's politicians and widespread perceptions of official corruption and alleged links between some politicians and underworld figures as likely to demotivate people from going to vote.

At the election media centre in Sofia, socialist candidate MEP Atanas Paparizov, asked why so few people had voted, said that people did not realise the importance of the European Parliament.

MRF candidate list leader Filiz Husmenova said that they were unhappy about the low voter turnout and would have wished for more people to have voted, no matter for which party.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin, a BSP Cabinet minister, said that while the socialists' and GERB's results were very close, "we should wait until the final results" before any conclusions were drawn. As to the NMSII, a member of the coalition government, having done badly, Kalfin said that the results of individual parties in the coalition were not important.

Ataka list leader Dimitar Stoyanov said that the MEP election result showed that the current share of seats in Bulgaria's National Assembly did not reflect current political opinion. Ataka party leader Volen Siderov alleged that the MRF had done well because they "bought votes" and said that voting should be made compulsory.

Senior NMSII member Nikolai Vassilev said that his party had been the big losers in this election, and that they had hoped for at least two seats. The fact that they had been beaten by Ataka was not good for democracy in Bulgaria. The NMSII (which was the majority partner in the national governing coalition from 2001 to 2005) would analyse what had happened, Vassilev said.

NMSII list leader Bilyana Raeva told sofiaecho.com that today's results were a loss not just for her party but for all parties. She said that the campaign had been dominated by scandals without any real debate about what the European Parliament was really about, and had focused on the past, not the future.

"I truly believe and truly hope that the 18 people going to the European Parliament will work together as a team for Bulgaria," Raeva said.

The traditional right-wing parties did badly. Ivan Kostov, who was Bulgaria's prime minister up to 2001, said that his Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria would make no statement now other than the results were not good for them. A news conference would be held on Monday, Kostov said.

German ambassador to Bulgaria Michael Geier said that it was frustrating that the country that joined the EU so soon and had such good ideas had such low voter turnout. Parties failed explaining properly the importance of the EP, Geier said.

It was normal for internal affairs to mix with electoral campaigning, Geier said commenting on the latest corruption controversies in the country. This was part of the learning process, Geier said.

This was Bulgaria's first election of MEPs after the country joined the European Union on January 1 2007. The MEPs will serve until June 2009, when EU-wide European Parliament elections are scheduled.

The Bulgarian MEP election results will not significantly change the balance of power in the 785-seat European Parliament. The BSP is a member of the socialist bloc, while the MRF and NMSII are members of the liberal group, and Ataka is a founder member of a far-right group formed at the beginning of 2007.

Domestically, a major issue has been whether the European Parliament election results in Bulgaria would step up pressure for early parliamentary elections or for Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, leader of the BSP, to reshuffle his Cabinet. News around the MEP election campaign was dominated by a major controversy involving corruption and abuse of power allegations that led to senior BSP figure Roumen Ovcharov being sent on compulsory leave from his ministerial post.

On May 18, Bulgarian-language daily Monitor published an interview with Borissov, quoting him as saying that the results of the MEP would "clearly show the need for early parliamentary elections".

The fact that GERB took part in these elections skews comparisons to previous elections. The 2006 presidential elections ended in a runoff between the BSP candidate Georgi Purvanov, who won a second term in office by defeating the Ataka candidate, the party's leader Volen Siderov. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, the BSP took the largest number of votes, but an insufficient share to govern on its own, and formed a coalition with the second-placed NMSII and the MRF.

Other factors skewing comparisons is that the rules for eligibility to vote are different, as noted above, and though the numbers are too tiny to make a difference, for the first time foreigners - meaning EU citizens permanently resident in Bulgaria - are eligible to vote. Further, the preferential voting system used in these elections enabled voters to choose individuals without necessarily choosing a party.

- Reporting by the sofiaecho.com election coverage team: Petar Kostadinov, Elitsa Savova, Elitsa Grancharova, Mariana Marinova and Yana Moyseeva.