In a first reaction to the European election results, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev warned that the results should not be extrapolated to elections for national parliament that are to be held in July 2009.

"What is important after the national elections, is that the country has a stable new government with a parliamentary majority as soon as possible," Stanishev said on Bulgarian National Television (BNT).

Asked by BNT whether he would exclude negotiations with certain parties, Stanishev said his party would negotiate with "any democratic party that is capable of governing."

"The worst case scenario would be when this proves impossible, as the new government has important decisions to take and reforms to make to fight the economic crisis," Stanishev said.

Stanishev warned against a government that would be an exercise in "revenge on the previous government".

A turnout of 38 per cent, according to Stanishev, showed Bulgarians felt more and more European, with an understanding that something depended on their activity.

Stopping short of acknowledging defeat, Stanishev did congratulate Boiko Borissov’s party, commonly known by its Bulgarian abbreviation as GERB. Stanishev said he hoped GERB would take responsibility for the overall Bulgarian interest, not just party interests.

Commenting on the difference in election results between GERB and the coalition of his own Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Stanishev said the predicted 10 per cent difference had not materialised, thanks to a "strong campaign".

For the upcoming national elections, according to Stanishev, BSP had no scenario, but an open campaign in which it would show results and acknowledge mistakes.

"Voters are tired of hearing cliches," Stanishev said. He said that there had been no room for real debate in the European elections.

Stanishev accused the opposition of "four years of cliches."  He said that opposition parties had conducted a sharply negative campaign "against Bulgaria, against our government."

Stanishev said that, based on reactions from party leaders, he had the impression that GERB and the right-wing Blue Coalition were already preparing a national coalition.