GERB Candidates Scoop Major Wins in Bulgaria's Local Vote Runoff

Mayor candidates endorsed by main ruling party GERB have won in at least seven regional centers in Bulgaria, according to first exit poll results in the run-off vote of local elections.

These include Plovdiv, Haskovo, Shumen, Vidin, Razgrad, Targovishte, Pernik, and Lovech.

"Of a total of 5181 municipal councilors, 1727 are of GERB," Tsvetan Tsvetanov, GERB Deputy Chair, former Interior Minister and unofficial "driving force" of local party structures, told journalists at a press conference.

Against this backdrop, the biggest opposition party, socialist BSP, has failed to win any of the regional centers where results have been declared so far, losing in all six of the bigger towns and cities where it was facing a runoff.

Results about more towns and cities are to be available later on Sunday, with half of all regional centers having held a second round of the mayoral vote.

In Haskovo, where the race was particularly contested, Dobri Belivanov, a candidate put forward by GERB, won overwhelmingly with 79% of the vote, with support for Georgi Ivanov (backed by right-wing RB, a junior coalition partner) only at 29.1%. Ivanov, who has had several consecutive terms in office, has described the run-up to the vote as "police bacchanalia".

Ognyan Tsenkov, backed by GERB, is tipped to win with 53.7% of votes, against Rositsa Kirova, supported by a local coalition (46.3%). Vidin and its adjacent areas are known as the EU's poorest region, with staggering levels of unemployment.

Shumen has also produced a clear winner according to first results of Alpha Research and Gallup pollsters, with Lyubomir Hristov (GERB) defeating Ivan Ivanov (socialist opposition BSP).

In Razgrad, Northeastern Bulgaria, partial counts suggest 56.32% of...