The new centre-right GERB party of Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov won Bulgaria's general elections with 39.7 per cent support, official results showed Monday, with 99.88 per cent of the ballots counted.
Borisov had previously claimed victory in Sunday's vote, saying that he will quickly form a centre-right government, although he stopped short of saying who its allies would be.
The outgoing Socialists of Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev suffered a stinging defeat, garnering only 17.72 per cent support. They had won the last election in 2005 with 33.98 per cent.
The Turkish minority MRF party, a junior coalition partner in the last government, won 14.47 percent. The ultra nationalist Ataka party came fourth with 9.37 per cent.
Two other right-wing parties also entered parliament -- the Blue Coalition with 6.73 per cent and the newly-formed Order, Lawfulness, Justice party with 4.13 per cent.
Both said they were ready to join GERB in a coalition government.
The centist NMSP party of former king Simeon Saxe Coburg, that formed a cabinet in 2001 and was the third partner in the outgoing cabinet, failed to pass the four-percent threshold to enter the legislature. It had come out second in 2005 with 21.83 per cent.
{{/usCountry}}The centist NMSP party of former king Simeon Saxe Coburg, that formed a cabinet in 2001 and was the third partner in the outgoing cabinet, failed to pass the four-percent threshold to enter the legislature. It had come out second in 2005 with 21.83 per cent.
{{/usCountry}}The official turnout on Sunday was 60.20 per cent, the electoral commission said.
For the first time, 31 deputies, or one from each constituency, were elected directly, with the remaining 209 seats being allotted on a proportional basis.
The electoral commission said Monday that GERB had won the direct vote in 26 constituencies, while the rest five deputy seats went to the MRF.
Commission member Mihail Konstantinov also gave a provisional distribution of all 240 seats -- 116 for GERB, 40 for the Socialists, 38 for the MRF, 21 for Ataka, 15 for the Blue Coalition, 10 for the OLJ.
The final percentage win and definitive distribution of all seats in the 240-seat legislature will be released by commission over the next days. Parliament itself will be covened on July 14.