Bulgarians in US Overwhelmingly Cast Vote for Rightist Opposition

Preliminary results from polling sections across the US show Bulgarians overwhelmingly favor the rightist opposition for the 41st General Assembly.

All sections closed at 7 pm local time Sunday evening.

So far the ballots counted are those from the polling sections at the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington DC and the Consul's Office in New York City.

In Washington DC, out of 477 voters 198 cast their ballot for the Citizen for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, 163 selected the Blue Coalition between the two biggest right-wing parties, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) and the United Democratic Forces (UDF), 49 supported the "Coalition for Bulgaria" and its main partner, the outgoing ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) , 22 voted for the far-right nationalist Ataka while the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) received only 2 ballots.

New York City registered a very high voter turnout of 791 Bulgarians with 320 voting for GERB, 303 for the Blue Coalition, 41 for Ataka, 29 for the newcomer, the conservative, rightist "Order, Law and Justice" (RZS) party, 7 for DPS and 6 for the other new party on Bulgaria's political horizon - LIDER, founded by Bulgarian energy tycoon, Hristo Kovachki.

Preliminary results show that 417 Bulgarians have voted in Boston - 182 for GERB, 153 for the Blue Coalition, 26 for "Coalition for Bulgaria", 10 for Ataka and 5 for RZS.

195 voted at the two polling sections on Nantucket Island where many Bulgarian college students work during the summer - 102 for GERB, 41 for the Blue Coalition, 10 for Ataka, 7 for "Coalition for Bulgaria" and 2 for DPS.

169 voted in Philadelphia with 69 for the Blue Coalition, 61 for GERB, 14 for Coalition for Bulgaria, 13 for Ataka and 6 for RZS.

In Atlantic City, another summer job location for Bulgarian students out of 168 voters 99 casted ballots for GERB, 31 for the Blue Coalition, 12 for Ataka and 9 for RZS.

The polling sections on the West Coast opened 3 to 4 hours later due to the time zone difference and results there are yet to become available, but all 5 sections registered a very high voter turnout of over 1 000. 260 voted in San Francisco, followed by Los Angeles with 250.