A ruffled Simeon Saxe-Coburg refused to pass blame on the evening of July 5 after exit polls gave his party, the National Movement for Stability and Progress, no chance of winning any seats in the next legislature.

"This is not the time for deep introspection and drawing conclusions. I did not expect this result, but the voice of people is the voice of god," Saxe-Coburg said.

Asked whether his party's poor showing was the result of controversies sparked by the two partners in the ruling coalition, Saxe-Coburg said: "I don't think it was our partners, but may be our participation in the triple coalition. People wanted a change, it happens".

NMSP was the majority partner in the coalition in government in 2001/05, when it won about 42 per cent of the vote, and then a minority partner in the Socialist cabinet in 2005/09, when some of its MPs left the party over internal disagreements with Saxe-Coburg's policies.

Asked whether the poor result would prompt him to leave the country, a visibly irritated Saxe-Coburg implied that the question was insulting, saying: "Can you imagine me leaving? After 50 years out of my country, I am not going to leave."

Political opponents often said that Saxe-Coburg's only reason for returning to Bulgaria was to secure the restitution of assets seized by the Communist regime in 1946, including former royal residences and tracts of land.

Asked whether he was apprehensive that he could lose those assets, a flustered Saxe-Coburg said: "I think we live in a democracy, a member state of the European Union and Nato, in a country with the rule of law, where private property is sacrosanct."