Former President Rumen Radev`s centre-left Progressive Bulgaria party is leading in the country’s parliamentary election, according to early official results, writes Al Jazeera.

Bulgarians cast their ballots on Sunday for the 8th time in 5 years, after mass protests led to the removal of the previous conservative government in December.

With 32% of the votes counted, Progressive Bulgaria was in the lead with 44.59%, preliminary results showed in the early hours of Monday.

Earlier, an updated exit poll conducted by Sofia-based Alpha Research showed Radev’s party winning 44% of the vote, according to the Reuters news agency.

Former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov`s conservative GERB was trailing in second place with 12.5% of the vote, the exit poll showed, while the reformist We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition was projected to finish third. Radev said he would be willing to work with them, but a minority government was also an option. Borissov wrote in a post on Facebook: "Elections decide who comes first, but negotiations will decide who governs". Radev, a left-leaning eurosceptic, stepped down from the presidency in January, after nine years, to launch his bid to become prime minister. He had backed the anticorruption protests that saw hundreds of thousands of largely young people take to the streets in December, and promised to get rid of the "oligarchic governance model".