Provisional exit polls in Bulgaria’s October 28 municipal polls appeared to confirm the upward national political arc of the party led by Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov.

Elected in 2005, Borissov – who has carefully cultivated a “can-do” strongman image since serving as chief of Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry – was said to be the clear front-runner in Sofia. As polls closed, he was said to have 52.6 per cent of the vote, compared to Martin Zaimov, the candidate of two right-wing parties (who was reported to have 19.6 per cent), and Brigo Asparouhov, a, a former communist-era securocrat who was the candidate of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), who was said to have 13.2 per cent.

In all of Bulgaria's major cities, GERB finished either first or second in the exit polls. In Rousse and Pleven GERB finished first, In Varna it was a close battle between GERB (19.1 per cent) and BCP (19.5 per cent), but exit polls show incumbent mayor Kiril Yordanov has won a third term. In Stara Zagora, GERB was estimated to receive 31.5 per cent, followed by BCP.

In Plovdiv GERB  reached 23.9 per cent, with VMRO in second place at 18 per cent.

GERB was second in Veliko Turnovo at 18.9 per cent while BCP reached 21.5 per cent.

In Kurdjali, current mayor Hasan  Azis' Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) finished in first place.

Zaimov told Bulgarian National Television: "Thanks to all who voted for us, for me. I look at these results as a large hope, a hope that things will be different in Sofia, for there not to be manipulations, for there to be truth. Of course I'll consider in politics."
A spokesperson for his Alliance for Sofia said that the provisional results showed that there was stability in the right-wing. He said that Zaimov had performed well, and on a second round, they would rely for support on "people who think clearly."

However, if the exit polls are correct, Borissov has won at the first round, which would eliminate a second round.

Titi Papazov, the former basketball star who ran as the candidate for the right-wing Democratic Party, said that the good news was that Zaimov was headed for a second round. The bad news, Papazov said, was that he himself had done so badly. Papazov said that voter turnout was low because Bulgarians relied on others to do their job for them. He declared support for Zaimov at a second round.

Ataka member Georgi Dimitrov, asked who the party would support on a second round, said that it was too early too say. The ultra-nationalists were 'satisfied" with their performance (4.4 per cent, provisionally), Dimitrov said.

Key themes in the 2007 municipal election story included its role as a public opinion poll on the current national Government coalition, led by the BSP. In recent weeks, the Government has been on the receiving end of a damaging national strike by teachers, demanding substantially higher pay. Provisional resolution of the strike on the eve of the October 28 elections may not have been enough to benefit the Government, especially the BSP, which since 2005 has had to backtrack on effectively all of its election promises for better social support and improved incomes.

Another key theme has been whether the municipal elections would see improved voter turnout compared to the 2007 elections in Bulgaria for members of the European Parliament, the 2006 presidential elections, the 2005 parliamentary elections and the 2003 municipal elections, all of which saw ever-decreasing voter turnout, a barometer of increasing disillusionment with politicians and their promises.

Unofficial figures at 3pm put national voter turnout at about 27 per cent, hardly an improvement on any election in recent years. In Sofia, it was about 28 per cent, but Borissov was said, unofficially, to have garnered more than half the votes cast – raising the possibility that he might not even have to fight a second round. All eyes were also on the national performance of his party, the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, known by its Bulgarian abbreviation as GERB. Borissov and GERB have made frequent calls for ahead-of-term parliamentary elections. This would mean the current tripartite coalition Government, made up of the BSP, former king and former prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg’s NMSP, and the MRF (led and supported mainly by Bulgarians of ethnic Turkish descent) agreeing to step down – even though the Government easily survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament over the teachers’ strike just a few days ago.

Another theme in these elections is that they were the first municipal elections in Bulgaria in which EU citizens permanently resident in Bulgaria were allowed to vote. No reliable figures were available on foreigner turnout, but Bulgarian news agency BTA reported that Engineer Michael Foster was the first Englishman, who cast his vote in the local elections in the Stara Zagora Region.

“Met by applause at the polling station in the village of Iskritsa, where he has been living for four years now, Foster, 63, exercised his right to vote on Sunday. He heads the local thermo-electric power plant, owned by the Enel Italian company.Foster said he loves the Bulgarian nature, the Bulgarian wine and the smiling Bulgarians,” BTA reported.

Other key themes in this election were vote-buying, with allegations flowing in during election day even after Parliament voted measures against such abuses, and “election tourism” reportedly involving ethnic Turkish Bulgarians crossing the border from Bulgaria’s eastern neighbour to sway local votes in favour of the MRF. Ultra-nationalist party Ataka, which has played on racist sentiments and extreme hostility to the current political establishment, called on October 28 for the election results to be nullified, alleging widespread abuses, including that the ballot paper was “too transparent” meaning that votes were not secret.

Senior NMSP member Ognyan Gerdjikov told journalists at the election centre in Sofia that he was "very disappointed" at the poor showing of the party -- which from 2001 to 2005 was the dominant member of the governing coalition. He expressed concern at vote-buying, saying the money that was used to buy votes was of "uncertain origin". On the low voter turnout, Gerdjikov, a former Speaker of Parliament, said that MPs should consider a law to make voting compulsory.