Bulgaria's prime minister has expressed confidence that the internal dissent that jolted the party of the former king, a junior partner in the ruling coalition, won't spread further.

"I do not expect the process of quitting the party of Simeon Saxe-Coburg to turn into an exodus," Sergey Stanishev said on Tuesday, a day after the group of mavericks, who were either expelled by the leader of the centrist party or left at their own will, swelled up to thirteen.

"The ruling coalition holds a stable majority in parliament and I do hope that those who left NMSP will continue to support the government's policy," the prime minister added.

He refused to comment reports that the government is set for a major reshuffle in January.

Socialist Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev and his junior coalition partners - former king and leader of the centrist NMSP party Simeon Saxe-Coburg and ethnic Turkish leader Ahmed Dogan - have reportedly reached last Sunday an agreement on the replacement of key ministers.

Simeon Saxe-Coburg is believed to have pressed for the resignations of four of his five ministers, who did not prove their loyalty to him following the rift that split his party at a tumultuous congress this summer.

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