Bulgarians went to the polls on Sunday to vote for a new parliament, the first general elections after the country's accession to the European Union.

Polls opened at 6:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) and would close at 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT). Some 6.8 million voters were choosing a 240-member parliament among 4,652 candidates from 14 political parties and four coalitions.

The government sent 15,000 policemen to secure peace around 11,659 voting stations and the whole personnel of the Interior Ministry were also involved in securing order on election day.

The Central Electoral Commission said on Sunday morning that there had been no major incidents at the start of the election day.

Earlier surveys have showed that Sofia Mayor Boiko Borisov from the main opposition party is expected to garner some 30 percent of the vote, about 10 percentage points ahead of outgoing Prime

Minister Sergei Stanishev from the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party.

The elections will be observed by a number of Bulgarian and foreign organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

According to the law, the Central Electoral Committee has to announce the final results and the distribution of parliament seats no later than July 9. The names of the newly elected MPs should be publicized on July 12 at the latest.

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov has announced plans to convene the new parliament as early as July 14.

Source: Xinhua