The Bulgarian Socialist Party, the main party in Coalition for Bulgaria who took part in the previous ruling coalition government, was the largest spender in the July 5 2009 national election campaign, a report published by the National Audit's Office said on August 14 2009.

Coalition for Bulgaria received a total of 2 038 080 leva - of which 1 515 708 leva was in the form of state subsidy - and spent 1999 052 leva, the report said.

As one of the three former ruling parties, the BSP was subject to the largest share of state subsidies which parties who get more than one per cent of the votes are entitled to receive.

At the July 5 2009 elections the Coalition for Bulgaria scored the second best result of 17.7 per cent, far behind GERB who got 39.7 per cent. The election results sent the BSP into opposition.

The second biggest spender was the right-wing Blue Coalition, composed of the Union of Democratic Forces and the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria parties.

The coalition spent a total of 1 998 260 leva on the campaign which was only enough to win fifth place in Parliament with 6.76 per cent, with four per cent being the elections threshold.

The BSP's former ruling coalition partner, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), currently in opposition, was the third largest spender. According to the report, the MRF spent 999 708 leva in the campaign. The MRF won 14.46 per cent of the votes, making it the third largest group in Parliament.

The third former ruling coalition party, the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP), spent 996 943 leva which, however,  was not enough to win a seat in Parliament. NMSP got 3.01 per cent of the vote.

The Lider-Novoto Vreme coalition, supported by energy tycoon Hristo Kovachki, spent 956 465 leva but also failed to make it to Parliament.

The big winners at the elections, Boiko Borissov's Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, spent 826 387 leva. Unlike the BSP, MRF, NMSP and the Blue Coalition, GERB was not a recipient of any state subsidy. Most of its money came from donations (105 010 leva), bank loans (259 263 leva) and its own funds (462 114 leva), the report said.

The Order, Law and Justice party of Yane Yanev, which just managed to pass the election threshold with 4.13 per cent of the votes, spent 465 690 leva of which 392 941 were a state subsidy. The party received donations worth 285 300 leva.

Ultra-nationalist Ataka party spent the least of the parties who made it  to Parliament. Volen Siderov's party spent just 220 650 leva. The bulk of the money came from donations (138 000 leva); the state subsidy was 50 000 leva and the party's own funds were 32 200 leva.