Bulgarians voted on Sunday in their fourth general election in 18 months, anxious about soaring consumer prices and energy costs ahead of a winter overshadowed by the Ukraine war.
While endemic corruption was the focus of the previous vote last November, economic woes are now top of voters' concerns.
The European Union's poorest member state is battling annual inflation of close to 20 percent.
Krasimira Velkova, a 64-year-old economist who cast her ballot in Sofia, confirmed these fears.
"People worry about inflation, about the fact that when you enter a food store, a shopping trolley that's just half full costs a fortune. The difference compared to last year is absolutely staggering," she told AFP.
"We are worried about how we'll get through the winter," Velkova added.
Bulgaria's veteran former premier Boyko Borisov, 63, could benefit from people's fears.
He held power three times and dominated politics for a decade and is now eyeing a comeback on a "return to stability" platform.
On Sunday he trumpeted that he was Bulgaria's "most experienced" politician and stressed the country's European Union and NATO allegiances.
"We need people with experience in these troubled times. We can reproach Boyko for some things but he is the lesser evil", 62-year-old garage owner Bogomil Gruev said after casting a ballot in a Sofia suburb.
Another voter, 47-year-old nurse Rada Mincheva, praised Borisov's ability to manoeuvre between western and Russian interests.
"The war is very close to us. We'd better not provoke anyone," she said.
Polls on the eve of the ballot show support for his conservative GERB party rising, crediting it with about 25 percent of the votes.
The Balkan country has been dogged by political instability since early last year, when GERB lost power following massive anti-corruption demonstrations.
Borisov's rival, outgoing reformist premier Kiril Petkov, 42, has urged voters to let him "continue the change" he started under a "zero corruption" slogan but was lagging in the polls on around 16 percent.
The Harvard-educated former entrepreneur stormed onto the political scene in 2021 but his precarious four-party coalition was toppled in a no-confidence motion after just seven months in power.
Petkov urged people on Sunday "to make the important choice... to move forward towards a new, prosperous, capable and transformed Bulgaria".
"I hope that more young people who left will return to Bulgaria!" he said after casting his ballot in Sofia, together with his Canadian wife.
His government had offered substantial rises in pensions and Petkov said he was planning a rise of the average salary in Bulgaria, which now stands at 870 euros ($853), the lowest in the 27-nation EU.
Retired lawyer Sasho Chobanov, 74, hailed the "right foundations" laid down by Petkov's reformist, if short-lived, cabinet.
"The only thing that I am anxious about, from a moral point of view, is not to have the bandit party come back to power," he said, referring to GERB.
Petkov categorically ruled out forming a coalition with Borisov, heightening fears the vote may fail to end the country's worst period of political instability since the end of Communism in 1989.
Borisov, on the other hand, repeated once again on Sunday that he would be open to talks with anyone on forming a cabinet -- for the sake of stability amid the war in Ukraine and people's fears about rising inflation.
"What's important for us is for reason to prevail... Believe me, right now I am the most well-meaning and open person to all parties," he said.
However, New Bulgarian University analyst Antony Todorov was sceptical about the chances of Borisov's GERB party being in a position to form a stable coalition.
"I don't believe that GERB, which is very isolated, could return to power," Todorov said.
The protracted political instability has left Bulgaria struggling to pass reforms and has hampered economic growth.
Another analyst, Georgy Kiryakov, said Borisov could find potential coalition partners in the Turkish minority MRF party and the pro-Russian ultra-nationalist Vazrazhdane party.
Voter fatigue was also high, analysts said. By by 4:00 pm, turnout was just over 25 percent of eligible voters -- roughly the same as during the snap vote in November 2021.
Voting was due to end at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT), when polling agencies will announce their first exit poll results.
