Volen Siderov, the leader of Bulgaria's nationalist party "Ataka" ("Attack"), has pledged hardline support for the Borisov Cabinet and the ruling party GERB in a Parliament confidence vote to be requested by the government.

Late Tuesday the GERB party announced Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's intention to go for a vote of confidence in Parliament over the government's "overall policies", a preventive move against the opposition, which has been preparing to demand a no confidence vote over the recent Tapegate scandal.

"Ataka" will provide unquestionable support for the Cabinet if the Prime Minister requests a vote of confidence in Parliament," Siderov commented shortly after the news about Borisov's intention broke, as cited by BTA.

"This is a logical move given the attacks on part of Georgi Parvanov (Bulgaria's President – editor's note), Yane Yanev (leader of the conservative marginal party RZS – editor's note), the group around Aleksei Petrov (former secret agent arrested in February 2010 on organized crime charges dubbed "The Octopus" - editor's note) and the media around him (i.e. the Galeria weekly, which leaked the tapes and is believed to be Petrov's mouthpiece – editor's note), and the rightist Blue Coalition, which has emerged as an opposition to the Cabinet," Siderov declared.

"After these hysterical attacks, the vote of confidence is a way for the Prime Minister to affirm the trust for him and his government, and to continue with his policies and reforms," declared the leader of the nationalist party Ataka, which has been in an informal coalition with GERB propping up Borisov's minority government.

"The vote of confidence will show who is who in Bulgaria's political spectrum, and who is playing what kind of game. This is a common tool in developed democracies. Of course, it hides risks but a person with character, who has set out to change things in Bulgaria, should not be afraid of risks," Siderov declared.

When asked to comment if it is possible to see a repetition of 1992 scenario in which the rightist Cabinet of Prime Minister Filip Dimitrov collapsed after 15 months in power after the PM requested a vote of confidence, Siderov said the Dimitrov Cabinet collapsed because it relied on the support of the ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms), which pull out.

"There is no backstabbing with Ataka," Siderov stated vowing hardline support for Borisov.

The Borisov-Siderov alliance has been somewhat perplexing to the Bulgarian public as their parties did not form a formal coalition, and the nationalist party Ataka, know for its radical rhetoric prior to the 2009 elections, did not get any ministerial or other posts in the government.

Borisov's motion to request a vote of confidence for his government in Parliament has come just as the major opposition parties – the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) have declared they were preparing to demand a second no confidence of the Borisov Cabinet, after their first no confidence attempt over health policy failed in 2010.

Borisov center-right party GERB has 117 MPs out of a total of 240 but it relies on the support of the nationalist party Ataka and its 21 MPs; the rightist Blue Coalition with its 15 MPs has been a rather critical and reluctant ally of GERB, often pushed into that role by the European People's Party.

The vote against the Borisov Cabinet in the Bulgarian Parliament seems highly unlikely as the BSP and DPS, and the marginal conservative party RZS, which has been at war with government recently, can hardly muster more than 80 votes.

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