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Polls opened at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) and will close at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT), with 6.8 million eligible voters choosing between some 4,500 candidates from 14 political parties and four coalitions for parliament’s 240 seats.
Latest opinion polls have suggested Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev will pay the price for the failure of his corruption-tainted government to handle an economy hit hard by the global downturn.
His main opponent, the capital’s Mayor Boiko Borisov is tipped to score an easy victory, although possibly by too narrow a margin to form a government without seeking a coalition partner.
Borisov’s center right party has been riding high on promises to jail corrupt officials and crime bosses.
Despite securing EU membership, Stanishev’s government has been widely blamed for failing to improve the quality of everyday life in the Balkan country of 7.6 million, the poorest member of the European Union.
Although unemployment stands at a relatively low 7 percent, opinion polls say more than a third of Bulgarians fear they might lose their job in the near future. And while wage increases have pushed the average salary to euro300 ($420), it remains the lowest in the 27-member EU.
