Bulgarian poll neck and neck

President Stoyanov narrowly lost the first poll

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Bulgaria's presidential election hangs in the balance after several exit polls in the runoff vote showed Socialist Party leader Georgi Parvanov narrowly ahead of incumbent Petar Stoyanov.

All polls put ex-Communist Parvanov in front, but his lead in Sunday's poll varied between five and two percentage points.

Exit polls in the first round a week ago put Stoyanov ahead but proved wrong when the Central Electoral Commission announced the final results: 36 percent for Parvanov and 35 percent for Stoyanov.

Official partial results from the second round were expected late on Sunday or in the early hours of Monday.

MORE STORIES Analysis: Why are Bulgarians going back to the polls? (From Transitions Online)

"We already have a feeling of being the winners," Parvanov's election team head Roumen Petkov told national television.

A low turnout is widely seen as a reflection of political apathy, anger over poverty and accusations of corruption.

It resulted in a record low turnout of only 41 percent in round one a week ago.

The central electoral commission said that by 5 p.m. on Sunday turnout was 42 percent.

Polls opened at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Sunday and closed at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT), with 6.9 million people were eligible to vote.

Although the president is a figurehead and real power lies with the government of Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the former king, the low turnout was widely seen as snub to the whole political establishment.

While Saxe-Coburg's movement backs Stoyanov, its junior coalition partner, the ethnic Turkish Movement for Freedoms and Rights (MRF), has backed Parvanov.

Turnout in the first round, last Sunday, was 41.5 percent -- the lowest in a decade. By contrast, 76 percent of Bulgarians voted in the first post-communist presidential elections in 1992.

Stoyanov, casting his ballot in the capital, Sofia, urged voters to turn out.

He said: "An emerging democracy like Bulgaria cannot afford the luxury of non-voting.

"Only established and prosperous democracies can afford such a luxury. To my regret, we are not such a country."

Parvanov is leader of Bulgaria's former communist Socialist Party

Citizens on the streets of Sofia were divided.

"I will not vote again," said Stanko Lazarov, 68, told Reuters.

"I am not pleased with our rulers. Pensions are too low, prices are rising all the time. We live very badly, we live in misery.

"Whoever comes to power will not improve the situation. They all give us false promises before the election and don't care about us at all. Why should I vote?"

Taxi driver Georgi Stoyanov, 28, said: "I didn't vote in the first round because I was disappointed with all six candidates.

"Now I will vote, not because I've been impressed with one of the two contenders but because if the turnout is so low again, the future president will not be legitimate, he will not be president of all Bulgarians."

The next president is expected to lead Bulgaria into the European Union, which it hopes to join in 2006. Bulgaria also hopes for an invitation to join NATO next year.

Stoyanov won the presidency in 1996 with the backing of the centre-right UDF, which governed from 1997 until last June, but is running this time as an independent.