Centre-right GERB leads in Bulgaria’s parliamentary vote-exit poll

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By Stoyan Nenov and Georgi Slavov

SOFIA (Reuters) -Bulgaria’s centre-right GERB party is seen in the lead after a snap parliamentary election on Sunday, but it will have to seek a coalition partner to form a government, an exit poll showed.

According to the poll by Alpha Research pollsters, GERB was seen winning 26.2% of the votes, while reformist We Continue the Change (PP) was seen coming second, winning 15.7% of the votes.

The ultra-nationalist Revival party is set to come third with 14.5% of the vote, while the Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF), which mainly represents Bulgaria’s large ethnic Turkish minority, was projected to win 14.3% of the votes.

GERB would get 73 seats in the 240-seat parliament, while PP would get 44 seats, and Revival and MRF 41 and 40 seats respectively, according to the Alpha Research poll.

However, analysts interviewed by Bulgarian BTA TV said that the race for second place may be too close to call, and that the result could vary between the three parties which follow GERB.

Sunday’s vote, the sixth in three years, was triggered by the collapse in March of a coalition comprising GERB and the PP.

On Sunday, Bulgarians also voted for their representatives for the European Parliament.

(Reporting by Georgi Slavov; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Kim Coghill, Helen Popper and Alex Richardson)