Polls Open for Bulgaria's Presidential, Local Election

Polling stations in Bulgaria opened at 6:00 am (0300 GMT) Sunday for the first round of presidential and local elections, with eve-of-ballot polls predicting a win for the ruling right-wing GERB party of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Some 6.9 million Bulgarians in the country and abroad are eligible to elect in a direct majority vote a successor to incumbent Socialist President Georgy Parvanov, stepping down after two five-year terms in office.

Bulgaria's head of state is the chief commander of the armed forces but otherwise has largely ceremonial functions.

All three major candidates for the job -- GERB's former popular regional minister Rosen Plevneliev, Socialist candidate Ivaylo Kalfin and ex-European commissioner Meglena Kuneva -- have pledged to work for better European integration of Bulgaria, which is the EU's poorest newcomer.

Eve-of-ballot polls credit Plevneliev with 35 to 45 percent of the vote, sending him on a run-off next Sunday against Kalfin, who garners between 27 and 33 percent.

Kuneva, running as an independent, comes third with 11 to 17 percent, polls show.

Some 6.5 million Bulgarians are also eligible to elect in a proportional vote Sunday their representatives in the 264 municipal councils as well as their local mayors.

The two-in-one presidential and local elections are expected to boost voter turnout to about 60 percent, polling institutes estimate.

Polling stations will close at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) with the first exit poll results to be released shortly afterwards. The first partial official results are expected late Sunday.