Anti-corruption party holds lead in Bulgaria’s elections

By VESELIN TOSHKOV
Associated Press

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A newly founded anti-corruption party holds a narrow lead in the preliminary vote count from Bulgaria’s parliamentary elections. A parallel count conducted by Gallup International on Sunday gave the centrist We Continue the Change party 26.3% of the vote. That was a lead of a little over three percentage points ahead of the center-right opposition GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. Five other parties appear to have won spots in the 240-seat chamber, according to exit polls. It could be days before the final official results are announced. If they confirm the initial counts, We Continue the Change leader Kiril Petkov will be handed a mandate to form a new government in the European Union’s poorest country.