Bulgaria authorities seize fake ballots before election

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian state security officers seized 350,000 fake ballot papers, prosecutors said on Saturday, a day before parliamentary elections which are likely to see no party win a majority, resulting in more political turmoil in the EU's poorest country.

Prosecutors said the ballots were found at a printing house owned by the company of a local councilor from the center-right GERB whose government resigned from office during protests in February, but which still has a narrow lead in opinion polls.

"Over 350,000 printed ballots, that were ready for use in the parliamentary elections, were found in stores of a printing house in Kostinbrod," the prosecuting office in the capital, Sofia, said in a statement.

Protests against low living standards and corruption felled a GERB government in Bulgaria leading to Sunday's election.

Bulgaria struggles to supply running water and reliable electricity to some of its citizens, 2 million of whom have left since the 1989 fall of communism. In rural areas, many villages are run down and populated only by the elderly.

After a campaign that consisted more of mud-slinging than debate about policy, coalition talks are expected to be difficult and that may raise questions over governance and economic policy.

(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Sam Cage and Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bulgaria-authorities-seize-fake-ballots-election-142553365.html

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