A movement headed by former king Simeon II which was winning toay's parliamentary election in Bulgaria offered to form a coalition with the centre-right UDF party of Prime Minister Ivan Kostov.
Our position about forming a coalition government remains unchanged, even if we win a clear majority, Plamen Panayotov, number two in Simeon's movement, told Reuters. He said natural partners for the movement would be the UDF-led coalition and the ethnic Turk MRF party.
Mr Kostov, in the run-up to the vote, had dismissed a coalition with Simeon, but his top aides appeared to be split.
Popular Sofia mayor Stefan Sofianski told Reutersa broad coalition was the best option for Bulgaria, but Dimitar Abadzhiev, deputy chairman of the UDF executive council, said it was too early to decide.
"Bulgaria has lost its historic chance to continue along the path of reforms. We are about to have an unstable parliament. If it is true that this was a vote of punishment, the whole of Bulgaria will be punished," he said.