Voting Underway in Bulgaria's Presidential Election, Referendum

Bulgarians are heading to the polls on Sunday to elect the country's new President and vote in a referendum on the political system.

A tight race is expected between the two frontrunners, Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva, nominated by main ruling party GERB, and former Air Force Commander Maj Gen Rumen Radev, endorsed by the main opposition force, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). Tsacheva, pointed by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in October, is expected to win the first round by a narrow margin.

Nationalist-backed Krasimir Karakachanov is placed third by some of the polls. The DPS, Bulgaria's third-largest party that is dominated by ethnic Turks (the latter make up for than a tenth of the population) has no official candidate, but has endorsed Plamen Oresharski, a controversial ex-Prime Minister previously seen as an outsider. Support for him has been on the rise in a recent poll.

Other prominent candidates include former Energy Minister Traycho Traykov, nominated by right-wing Reformist Bloc coalition (the junior ally in Borisov's government) and ex-Deputy PM and Labour Minister Ivaylo Kalfin, whose ABV party withdrew from the cabinet earlier this year. 

The runoff, on November 13, is expected to be a close race, with some surveys predicting a win for Radev. 

Voters have to choose their favourite among 21 candidates and in line with eleventh-hour changes to the Electoral Code, compusory voting and a "protest" option in the ballots. Those who have no preference for a candidate can tick "I Do Not Support Anyone". Not voting in two consecutive elections will result in deregistration from the electoral roll, under the new laws. 

Incumbent Rosen Plevneliev is not running for a second term, but has not ruled out doring so later...