The rightist nominee for mayor of Sofia, Martin Zaimov, conceded defeat against incumbent Boyko Borisov on Monday, but demanded a recount of the votes. The move came after tip-offs of vote fraud in several outlying districts of the city.

"I do not mean to question Borissov's win, but there have been tip-offs about electoral fraud in the Bankya and Pancharevo districts," Zaimov told reporters.

Borissov was re-elected to his second term by a landslide, winning 53,4% with 98% of all votes counted, with Zaimov coming in second with 18,7%.

But the former deputy central bank governor making his first foray into politics refused to be put down by the outcome of the vote and vowed to come back stronger when Borissov would inevitably "desert" the city in pursuit of more glory at the parliamentary polls in 2009.

Zaimov was backed by the country's two main rightist parties, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), which put aside years of squabbling among themselves behind and ally for the polls.

And after suffering a long string of defeats since 2001, which saw DSB splinter from UDF three years ago, they showed the first signs of regaining lost ground.

New UDF leader Plamen Yurukov, who took the job in the summer, hailed the outcome, which saw the rightist alliance push the Socialists into third place in the city where they nearly had a majority in the city hall council, although they failed to push Borissov's GERB party for first.

"The rightists in Sofia are coming out of slumber and gave us their vote of confidence," Yurukov told reporters.

But he cautioned UDF's coalition partners not to get overconfident and break up the alliance, which helped find a viable mayor nominee in Zaimov.

He also left a door open for potential cooperation with GERB on specific topics where their agendas overlap, but refused to commit himself to wider-reaching partnership.