(ANSA-AFP) - BELGRADE, NOV 13 - Bulgarians go to the polls Sunday for a third time this year as the EU member with the bloc's lowest vaccination rate battles its deadliest coronavirus wave so far. Two inconclusive general elections have left Bulgaria -- long ruled by conservative premier Boyko Borisov -- in a political conundrum as the pandemic overwhelms short-staffed, ill-equipped hospitals and fills up morgues.

Bulgaria's death rate has shot up to be among the highest in the world, while less than 23 percent of the poor Balkan country's 6.9 million people are fully vaccinated. An AFP photographer this week witnessed corpses being put in black body bags with a hastily scribbled "SARS COV2" label at one crowded Sofia hospital. - 'Two grave pandemics' - During the campaign, political parties refrained from backing any stricter lockdown measures for fear of a voter backlash. There was anger when the second interim government in place since April made it mandatory last month to be vaccinated, cured or tested to frequent restaurants and cultural and sports venues. The move failed to significantly raise the vaccination rate as conspiracy theories and lack of trust in authorities boosted anti-vaccine sentiments. Meanwhile, politicians trying to offer an alternative after Borisov's almost uninterrupted 10-year rule have focused on talking about corruption. Bulgaria is "suffering from two grave pandemics -- one is Covid 19, the other is corruption," said analyst Daniel Smilov in an editorial published by the Bulgarian section of German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Massive anti-graft protests last year and revelations by the interim administration about alleged past misuse of taxpayer money have cost three-time premier Borisov support. Even though his GERB party is predicted to still garner the most votes on Sunday with 23-24 percent, it is unlikely to find partners to govern as was already the case in April. A duo of Harvard-educated former businessmen counts on coming in at least second and being able to unite anti-Borisov parties after the vote in the country seen as the EU's most graft-prone member. Their movement, We Continue the Change, formed in September stands to gain around 16 percent of the vote on an anti-corruption platform, according to the latest polls. "We say what we actually think, and we do what we say, it's that simple," Assen Vassilev, who was interim finance minister, told AFP in an interview this week. His colleague Kiril Petkov, who was interim economy minister, said it was "of vital importance" that the country should have an elected government again.

Analysts say the onslaught of the Covid-19 health crisis is likely to push parties to reach some agreement, unlike after April and July elections. - Presidential vote - A first-round presidential vote will be held together with the parliamentary polls on Sunday. Outgoing Socialist-backed president Rumen Radev -- a vehement critic of Borisov -- is forecast to be a clear favourite for a second five-year term though analysts expect the race to go into a run-off. In the run-off on November 21, Radev -- a former jet fighter pilot and airforce commander -- is expected to face Sofia University rector Anastas Gerdjikov, backed by GERB. (ANSA-AFP).