
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 18, 1990                   TAG: 9006180202
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SOFIA, BULGARIA                                LENGTH: Medium

COMMUNISTS WIN IN BULGARIA

The heirs to the long-ruling Communists have won control of Parliament in Bulgaria's first free elections in 58 years, but the capital is firmly in opposition hands, unofficial results showed today.

Bulgaria's ruling Socialists are the only reformed Communists to hold onto power in an Eastern Europe where authoritarian rule gave way to popular elections this year after decades of Soviet domination.

The 400-seat Parliament will, however, have a strong opposition.

State-run Sofia radio said unofficial final results showed the Socialists to have won 39 of the 81 seats at stake in Sunday's run-offs, giving them a total of 211 seats.

The main opposition alliance, the Union of Democratic Forces, won 37 seats for a total of 144, the radio said, and the ethnic Turkish Freedoms and Rights Movement won 23.

The Agrarian Party, a once docile ally of the Communists, won 16 seats in the June 10 first round and had no candidates in the runoff. Other smaller opposition groups and independents won a total of six seats.

Official results were expected on Tuesday.

Non-Communists have triumphed in nationwide elections in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, although the party that swept last month's balloting in Romania has many former Communists in its leadership.

In the capital of Sofia, the Union of Democratic Forces won 18 of 26 available seats in the first round of elections. The independent Association for Fair Elections said it added at least another six seats on Sunday.

The opposition in this country of 9 million gets much of its backing from urban intellectuals, while the Socialists are seen as a sign of stability in the Balkan country's more conservative countryside.

The Communists have been a strong political force in Bulgaria for nearly a century and as the Socialist Party, the name they took in April, have essentially maintained political control of small towns and villages.

Opposition leaders have accused the Socialists of using intimidation and fraud to secure votes.

Foreign observers say they have not noted significant irregularities and Sunday's voting appeared to proceed smoothly at most polling sites. However, state television reported some irregularities, including illegal canvassing.

by CNB