Communists Get the Official Nod in Bulgaria’s Vote
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SOFIA, Bulgaria — The Communists were declared winners Thursday of the country’s first free multi-party election in more than four decades.
The Bulgarian Socialist Party (the Communists’ new party name) won 47.15% of the first-round national vote last Sunday against 36.2% for the dissident-led Union of Democratic Forces.
The party faces the prospect of forming a government without help from the main opposition groups.
The results announced by the Central Electoral Commission, before runoff elections next Sunday, show the Communists heading for an overall majority in the new 400-seat National Assembly with 173 seats gained so far against the Democratic Forces’ 107.
The renamed Communists have changed their image since the ousting of former hard-line leader Todor Zhivkov last November.
They are eager to include the burgeoning opposition groups in a broad-based coalition in the transition from 35 years of totalitarian rule to a multi-party democracy.
But the Democratic Forces, a grouping of 16 opposition movements, and a cluster of their allies have refused calls to link up with the Communists.
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