Bulgarian ex-bodyguard eyes government after vote

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's center-right opposition GERB party said it would start coalition talks on Monday, after winning a national election that increased the prospect of reforms in the EU member to combat corruption and recession.

GERB won on a promise to uproot the deep-seated crime that prompted the European Union last year to cut aid, capitalizing on voter anger over the Socialist-led government's failure to stem graft and economic pain.

Party leader Boiko Borisov, 50, a burly Sofia mayor nicknamed Batman after the fictional superhero due to his zeal for action, said he would head the next government and reiterated his campaign promises to move fast on reforms.

"Those who have stolen should be very afraid ... The thieves will go to jail," Borisov, a former bodyguard, told reporters.

Observers say a GERB-led government is likely to start loan talks with the International Monetary Fund and slash government spending in an effort to heal an economy severely damaged by the global crisis.

Partial results based on 60.6 percent of the ballots counted, showed Borisov's GERB -- Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria -- won 41.5 percent of the proportional vote compared with 18.2 percent for the Socialists.

GERB also won 28 additional seats in the 240-member legislature in a vote for a total of 31 mandates distributed separately, the results showed. Exit polls showed GERB might get a total of up to 120 seats, one seat short of clear majority.

The ex-communist nation of 7.6 million, which joined the European Union in 2007 and is the bloc's poorest member, last year lost access to over half a billion euros ($700 million) in EU funds as punishment for graft.

A new government must move fast to avoid new EU sanctions on aid, badly needed to fund Bulgaria's cash-strapped economy and to attract investors, many of whom fled this year.

GRAFT-RIDDEN

GERB's better-than-expected election result, which topped opinion surveys by 10 percentage points, alleviates concerns that protracted coalition talks could water down reform plans.

Observers said GERB was likely to strike a deal with a grouping of rightist parties, the Blue Coalition, which is poised to win some 17 seats.

Analysts say Borisov lacks a track record of government work and his program needs concrete policy plans, but they say he appears to have the political will for change which was missing in the previous government.

"The results showed a complete collapse of the ruling parties, said Rumiana Kolarova from Sofia University.

"We have yet to see whether the new government will be able to carry out the necessary reforms, but the expected junior coalition partner, the Blue Coalition, will be a guarantor of change."

The election came at a crucial time for the economy. After 12 years of growth, Bulgaria is in recession and rising unemployment is ending years of voracious private spending that has fueled a mountain of debt.

The economy is seen shrinking by two percent in 2009 and unemployment is rising.

Bulgaria's currency board regime and peg to the euro, seen by many as a guarantee of stability, is at risk, economists say, because of overspending by the current government ahead of Sunday's vote.

(Reporting by Sofia bureau, Writing by Justyna Pawlak and Anna Mudeva; editing by Jon Boyle)