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             Bulgarian President Tries to Break Election Stalemate

   by Reuters

   Bulgaria's political stalemate deepened on Wednesday after final
   results confirmed a prospective Socialist alliance with ethnic Turkish
   MRF allies lacking a majority, and its president warned of
   destabilization without a new government soon.

   President Rosen Plevneliev appealed to political parties to hammer out
   a coalition deal after the inconclusive weekend election in the
   European Union's poorest member state.

   "It is important to have a stable government. Everything else, new
   elections, would mean destabilization," he told reporters. "Bulgaria
   does not need new elections now. This will scare away investors."

   Plagued by poverty, corruption and organized crime, Bulgaria has been
   in political disarray since nationwide protests forced the previous
   leadership from power, and it risks drifting further until a new
   government is formed.

   A turnout of just 51 percent, the lowest since the fall of communism in
   1989, drove home the deep frustration of many Bulgarians with an
   entrenched political elite seen as corrupt and self-interested, and
   unable to boost incomes.

   A working government is needed urgently to negotiate EU funds for the
   next seven years, draft the 2014 budget and try to address popular
   anger over poor living conditions and high energy prices that kindled
   unrest earlier this year.

   Political uncertainty has driven up the cost of insuring Bulgarian debt
   against default since last week.

   It now costs $110,000 annually to buy $10 million worth of protection
   against a Bulgarian default using a five-year CDS contract, up from
   $92,000 on Friday, according to credit default swaps prices from
   provider Markit.

   Jitters over instability
   The business community worries that an unstable government forced to
   rely on unpredictable nationalists who demand state takeovers of
   companies and huge wage increases might deter investment urgently need
   to kickstart growth.

   Plevneliev said he would start consultations on Friday with a view to
   convening the new parliament before the end of May.

   But it was not immediately clear how the coalition would take shape as
   the official results showed no group would get over the 121-seat
   threshold needed to form a viable government.

   The center-right party of former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, who once
   served as a bodyguard to Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov, won 97 seats
   in the 240-strong parliament. But it has little chance of governing as
   other groups shun it.

   Borisov's GERB party has in the past ensured a majority by getting the
   support of the Attack party but the nationalists have ruled it out this
   time around. Even if they changed their mind, their alliance would be
   one seat shy of a majority.

   GERB has been tarnished by its fall to street unrest and its
   embroilment in scandals over wiretapping and illegal ballots.

   The more likely government will be one formed by the second largest
   group, the Socialists, who have voiced readiness for a non-partisan
   technocratic administration to shepherd a rise in living standards and
   avert further unrest.

   But the final results showed that the Socialists and their allies, the
   ethnic Turkish MRF, would also be a seat short of a majority and would
   need to persuade Attack, or individual legislators from either GERB or
   Attack, to work with them.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/bulgarian-president-rosen-plevneliev-
   election-stalemate-coalition/1661859.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/bulgarian-president-rosen-plevneliev-election-stalemate-coalition/1661859.html