The ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, DPS, will support the Socialists' nomination for Prime Minister, according to DPS member Kamen Kostadinov.

Speaking for Darik radio Saturday, Kostadinov said his party will be behind former Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski in his bid to become country leader.

He stressed DPS was not and in any way communicating with the far-right nationalist party Ataka due to stark discrepancies in their values.

Kostadinov said he did not yet know which other political formation would support Oresharski.

"Maybe someone from the formerly-ruling center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, is going to back the ex Finance Minister. This does not mean we should not be talking to these supporters," he noted.

Kostadinov pledged DPS will work hard to keep flat taxation in the country.

Meanwhile, Yanaki Stoilov from BSP stated he was ready to assume the duties of Speaker of the Parliament.

He stated he would do it despite the difficult situation, adding he did not see anything wrong in being supported by both DPS and Ataka on grounds he had extensive parliamentary experience.

"If the Parliament's leadership is elected within a week, the mandate to form a Cabinet could be given to GERB in the last week of May. If the mandate is then handed for a second time – we could have a government by mid-June. If, however, in the third try this fails, we could have new elections at the end of August – beginning of September. And I hope the latter scenario will not materialize," said Stoilov.

He declared support for eliminating the flat tax and introducing the income-based one on grounds the poorer should not be taxed.

As the Bulgarian Constitution requires, the President must first offer the mandate to the largest party in the Parliament.

Most probably he will hand over the mandate to the recently ousted centrist GERB party of former Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, which took a slight lead in the election results over their arch rivals – the Socialist Party.

If GERB fails to appoint a government within a 7-day deadline, then the mandate goes to the second largest party – BSP. If the Socialists fail or refuse to form a Cabinet – the mandate will be given to DPS, which came up third, and then – to the fourth and last formation to win seats in Bulgaria's 42nd General Assembly – the far-right nationalist Ataka.

If none of the four succeeds to form a government, the President has to appoint a caretaker government, and, with one single decree, adjourn the Parliament and schedule a new general election within 2 months of dissolving the Parliament.

GERB, gathered 30.503% of the votes in last Sunday's general election, final results show.

Left-wing BSP is next with 26.614%, followed by DPS with 11.293% and the far-right, nationalist Ataka - 7.302%. All other parties running in Sunday's vote have remained below the 4% election threshold.

According to the final CEC count – GERB + Ataka will have together 120 seats and DPS + BSP – another 120 in the 240-seats unicameral Parliament.

The number of MP seats each of the four parties have won are as follows – 97 for GERB, 84 for BSP, 36 for DPS, and 23 for Ataka.

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