Change in Bulgaria as opposition thrashes ruling coalition

Jul 8, 2009, 9:44 GMT

Sofia - The formerly opposition GERB party of Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov won by far the most seats in Bulgarian parliamentary elections and fell just a few short of an absolute majority, according to final official results released on Wednesday.

The conservative GERB claimed 116 out of the 240 seats in Sunday's vote, shattering Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev's Socialist Party, which tallied only 40 seats. Borisov is due to step down as the capital's mayor and seek the mandate to form the next cabinet.

The Socialists paid the price for a series of corruption scandals which have cost the cash-strapped Bulgaria hundreds of millions of dollars in European Union development aid in 2008, just a year after the Balkan country became a member.

The Bulgarian euphoria over their country's accession to EU in 2007 quickly evaporated as the nation learned that it was by far the poorest of the 27 in the bloc.

Disappointment was then replaced by resentment as officials were exposed in a series of frauds with EU funds intended to boost the country's agriculture and infrastructure.

The new parliament is set to convene for the first time on Tuesday.

GERB, founded only three years ago, is likely to seek a coalition with the centre-right Blue Coalition and possibly also with another brand-new conservative party the Order Law Justice, with 15 and 10 seats, respectively.

The entire opposition bloc had centered its campaign on a promise to fight crippling corruption and organized crime.

Alongside the Socialists, moving into the opposition are their two junior coalition partners - the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and the National Movement.

The DPS, stemming from the large Turkish minority, remained stable with 38 seats owing to its reservoir of ethnic votes, while the National Movement won just two per cent of the votes and was ousted from the legislature.

The final party in the assembly is the extreme nationalist, xenophobic Ataka party, with 21 seats. Though declaring itself vehemently anti-EU, Ataka also has representatives in the European Parliament.