Despite finishing second in the June 7 2009 European Parliament elections, the wide leftist Coalition for Bulgaria would do better at next month's National Assembly elections, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev told a post-election news conference.

"If we had one more week, we would have done even better. The Coalition for Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), we are a big organisation, we start slowly, but once we have momentum, we are hard to stop," Stanishev said. The Socialists are the core of the Coalition for Bulgaria.

"Everyone realises that these elections are a general rehearsal for the (national) parliamentary elections. I am convinced that these elections will serve as a good test for us to identify our weak spots and help us get our message across," Stanishev said.

That message, according to the PM, was the need for stability and continuity. A win for the opposition would open the gates of political revanchism.

Stanishev rejected allegations that the Socialists were behind the registration controversy surrounding the centre-right Blue Coalition, the staunchest critic of the BSP-led Cabinet. "We never sought to win by default," he said.

In full campaign mode, Stanishev started with a summary of the achievements of his Cabinet. The fact that the three parties in the ruling coalition won more votes than the opposition parties, led by Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov's Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), was a clear sign that the Government was successful in its policies, he said.

"The forecasts that GERB would destroy BSP did not come to pass. If today's elections were for Bulgarian Parliament, [GERB] would not have won a stable majority.

"At least three parties are needed for a stable majority in the next Parliament and that fact will make for an interesting campaign. If today's elections were for Bulgarian Parliament, it would have been a difficult job to hold coalition talks."

Stanishev did not rule out a coalition with any party after elections, saying that because of the financial crisis, a caretaker government was the worst option for Bulgaria. At the same time, the BSP would not seek to stay in power at any cost and was ready to go into opposition unless an agreement on key policies was reached.

"We have been in opposition before, in 1997/2001, when prime minister Ivan Kostov did his best to destroy the left, but we survived. We are not afraid to go into opposition again," Stanishev said.