SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) – Bulgaria’s former child king – who became prime minister decades after losing the throne – could find himself on the outside again after Bulgarians vote Saturday in parliamentary elections seen as a test of his economic policies.

No government has been re-elected in Bulgaria over the last 15 years, mainly because of tough reforms all have had to implement since the fall of Communism. The latest polls show the trend continuing for Prime Minister Simeon Saxcoburggotski, despite his success shepherding the former Soviet bloc nation into NATO and toward European Union membership.

Those polls gave the opposition Socialists a strong lead, suggesting the prime minister will pay the price for his government’s austerity measures despite stable economic growth.

Early projections showed the Socialists leading but falling short of winning a majority. According to exit polls conducted by the local Gallup International affiliate, the Socialists received 31.1 percent of the vote and Saxcoburggotski’s party 21.7 percent.

If those results hold up, the Socialists would be forced to look for a coalition partner.

During Saxcoburggotski’s term, Bulgaria, a former Soviet ally, has become an enthusiastic supporter of the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism, and has a 460-member force in Iraq. But the deaths of 13 Bulgarian soldiers in Iraq since 2003 prompted public anger.

As the 9-year-old Simeon II, Saxcoburggotski was removed by the Communists nearly six decades ago. But still known as “The Czar,” the former monarch returned to Bulgaria in 2001 to triumph in an election that handed his hastily formed center-right party – National Movement Simeon II – half the seats in parliament.

More than 6,000 candidates from 22 political parties and coalitions were competing for the 240 seats in the single-chamber parliament. A total of 6.7 million voters were eligible.

Socialist leader Sergei Stanishev, voting at a downtown polling station, said he was optimistic. His Socialist Party last governed the Eastern European country from 1994-97.

“Bulgaria needs a government supported by a stable majority that will guarantee the necessary changes ahead of Bulgaria’s admission into the European Union,” he told reporters.

Saxcoburggotski, 68, voted at a polling station in Sofia’s Gorublyane suburb where dozens of supporters came to cheer the former monarch.

“Let’s hope that as many people as possible will go out and vote – this is the most important thing for democracy and for the country,” he said.

Ahead of the elections, Saxcoburggotski called on Bulgarians to give him a chance to carry on with his work, saying the remaining 18 months until the country is admitted into the EU are of “decisive importance.”

His government’s achievements include 5.6 percent economic growth in 2004, a record $2.5 billion in foreign investment, single-digit inflation and a drop in unemployment to less than 12 percent from 18 percent in 2001.

But with an average monthly salary of $255, Bulgarians are angry.

“I cast my ballot, because … if you don’t vote, you should then put up with whoever the others have chosen,” said Georgi Angelov, a 31-year-old economist.

No party is likely to gain a sufficient majority to govern alone, which would force the Socialists to look for a coalition partner.

Stanishev, a 39-year-old historian, has managed to revamp the image of a party that emerged from the communist apparatus of the Soviet era and threw the nation into a financial crisis when it governed between 1994 and 1997.

He has promised of a less painful continuation of economic reforms and significant social cushions for the poor and low-paid, but he said a Socialist-led government will make EU membership its priority.

Bulgaria, along with Romania, has signed accession treaties to the European Union last April and is due to officially join the bloc in January 2007, unless a special ‘safeguard’ clause is implemented that can postpone accession for a year if progress is lacking in required reforms.

AP-ES-06-25-05 1331EDT

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