Underworld figures facing charges of racketeering, embezzlement and worse have found a novel way to escape jail in Europe’s most corrupt country: they are running for parliament.

Some of Bulgaria’s best-known alleged mobsters have been let out of custody to campaign in the general election on Sunday under a legal loophole that gives immunity from prosecution to MPs and candidates. Those in the running include the Galev brothers — two reputed gangsters accused of running a southwestern town for years through their police and judicial contacts — as well as Ivan Ivanov, one of nine defendants in a fraud case involving €7.5 million (£6.5 million) of farm aid from the EU. The case was supposed to be a showpiece trial to prove that judicial reforms were working in a country that was allowed into the EU in 2007, despite deep concerns about judicial independence and its backlog of more than a hundred unsolved contract killings. Instead, it has allowed Bulgaria’s critics to insist that the country was let in before it had been forced to change.

President Parvanov has called on Bulgarians not to vote for any of the freed suspects, so as not to worsen the country’s image at a time when the EU is assessing whether to release the full €11 billion in aid it has promised over the next seven years. “If we now allow people burdened with heavy sins [to enter parliament] this would not only blacken Bulgaria’s image, but would also hurt our perception about democracy profoundly,” he said. “That is why every voter must use their conscience.”

One of the Galev brothers, Plamen, stands a good chance of being elected as an independent MP despite facing charges of racketeering and running an organised crime group. He has been allowed out of jail for three weeks to campaign but could win at least four more years of freedom if he secures a seat in the 240-member parliament.

Hoping to join him there is Alexander Tomov, a former Vice-President of Bulgaria and ex-president of CSKA Sofia football club, who is awaiting trial on charges of embezzling £16 million, and Ivailo Drazhev, the former head of the Chernomorets football club, who is awaiting trial for alleged drunk-driving and causing the deaths of two people in 1998. He also faces embezzlement charges.

Polls predict that the biggest party in the election will be the new right-wing alliance of Boyko Borisov — a karate black belt and former bodyguard to the king of Bulgaria — who became Mayor of Sofia in 2005. Mr Borisov, 50, who cultivates a tough-guy image with his shaven head and fat cigars, is running as the candidate who can clean up Bulgaria.

He has kicked out corrupt civil servants in Sofia and gained popularity with his muscular approach to crime. Opposing him is the Socialist Prime Minister, Sergei Stanishev, 43, who could not be more different, with his cultured upbringing and education, including a London School of Economics degree.

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