Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov's Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (abbreviated as GERB in Bulgarian) extended its lead in opinion polls with two weeks left before European Parliament elections and six weeks before national Parliament elections, polling agency Alfa Research said on May 22.

Alfa Reaserch' survey, based on interviews conducted on May 14-19 and carried by Dnevnik daily, projected turnout at the European Parliament elections at 38 per cent and 48 per cent for the next Bulgarian legislature.

GERB would win most votes in both elections, with 32.6 per cent of the respondents saying that they would vote for the party in the MEP polls and 35.3 per cent in domestic elections. Support for domestic elections was 0.6 per cent up over the previous month, the polling agency said.

The party's main rival at the polls, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), had 24.5 per cent support for the MEP elections and 23.8 per cent for domestic polls, the latter figure falling by 2.3 percentage points since April.

But BSP, the senior partner in the current three-way coalition, had the advantage of a very dedicate core group of supporters, which would translate into more seats if turnout is lower than estimated, Alfa Research said. GERB would be one of the biggest winners if turnout is higher, the agency said.

Predominantly ethnic Turk party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), also part of the ruling coalition, and ultra-nationalist party Ataka were the only two other parties that were certain to pass the representation thresholds in both elections. MRF's support was in the 12-13 per cent range and Ataka could count on 10-11 per cent of the vote.

The Blue Coalition between the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria had 5.2 per cent support for the MEP elections and 5.7 per cent in domestic elections. Support for Parliament elections dropped 2.2 per cent in May, as potential voters were put off by the legal battles over UDF's court registration.

Fringe MP Yane Yanev's Order, Law and Justice party was gaining steam, helped by the flurry of Yanev's recent media appearances in which he accused several public officials of corruption, saying that he had evidence that he shared with prosecutors. The party had 4.1 per cent public support in May and could clear the Bulgarian Parliament threshold of four per cent, Alfa Research said.

"As a whole, the May survey paints the picture of Parliament with six parties or coalitions and very limited prospects of a stable parliamentary majority," the polling agency said.