By Tsvetelia Tsolova
SOFIA (Reuters) - The leader of a new pro-business Bulgarian political party said she will not support any coalition after elections in May, making an extended period without government more likely for the EU's poorest country.
The big political parties have rigged previous elections and cannot be trusted, Meglena Kuneva, a former European Union commissioner who founded the Bulgaria for the Citizens party, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
Support for her party, at 5-6 percent in an opinion poll published before Prime Minister Boiko Borisov's rightist GERB government resigned on February 20 amid violent protests over electricity bills and corruption, can rise due to voter disgust with traditional groups, she said.
With GERB and the Socialists neck-and-neck on 22-23 percent in the poll and the ethnic Turkish MRF on 6-7 percent, analysts say it is almost certain no party will have enough votes to form a government on its own.
"What we have decided for now is that Bulgaria for the Citizens does not see a chance for coalitions," said Kuneva, whose success as a minister in negotiating EU accession in 2007 may win her respect from voters eager for competent management.
"The parties did not do anything to show they will not try to manipulate the vote - so the base of trust is poisoned. There is no need to buy poisoned fruit," she said.
UNPREDICTABLE ELECTION
The wave of protest, in which three people set themselves on fire and hundreds of thousands rallied in the country of 7.3 million, makes the election result unpredictable.
Demonstrations began when Bulgarians, already impatient with corruption and a sluggish economy, were angered by rising electricity bills in a country where the average monthly wage is 400 euros (346 pounds) and pensions less than half that.
In a response which raised questions about Bulgaria's economic policy and whether it can maintain confidence in a currency peg to the euro, the government cut electricity prices by an average 7 percent from March 1.
It is also revoking the licence of Czech utility CEZ, saying distributors are to blame for high bills. The companies say they have done nothing wrong.
Commonplace low-level corruption, low incomes and poor infrastructure makes life a struggle in Bulgaria, whose population has shrunk 7 percent in a decade due largely to emigration. Gross domestic product per capita is less than half the European Union average in purchasing power parity terms and economic growth fell to 0.8 percent in 2012.
Kuneva won 14 percent of the vote as an independent in a 2011 presidential election on an anti-graft and pro-business agenda and has since formed her own party.
GERB has said it will not work with another party and Kuneva's reluctance on coalition deals means the most likely solution would be an alliance of the Socialists and MRF. But they may struggle to win enough votes between them for a working majority without a third partner.
Discontent with the main parties could also give a boost to nationalist parties such as Attack, which blames Roma gypsies and ethnic Turks for many of the country's woes but has faded in recent years. It could also open the way for new groupings if protesters can rally around a single figurehead.
(Editing by Jason Webb)
