Bulgarians Vote as Two Main Parties Locked in Dead Heat

Bulgarians began voting in an early election that has the Balkan country’s two main parties, Gerb and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, locked in a dead heat.

The polls opened at 7 a.m. Sofia time and are scheduled to close at 8 p.m. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Party of European Socialists have election monitors stationed at polls following reports of vote buying during presidential elections in October. Voter turnout across the country was 41.3 percent at 5:30 p.m. Electoral Commission spokesman Bisser Trayanov said in a live broadcast on Bulgarian state Television.