AFTER splitting into many factions, the right-wing parties have entered a new phase in negotiations about getting back together, leaving only Ivan Kostov's Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) behind.
Just a few weeks after the forming of two right-wing coalitions, that of the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union - People's Union (BAPU-PU), the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO) and the Union of Free Democrats (UFD) and the United Democratic Forces (UtDF) coalition of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), the Democratic Party (DP) and the Gergyovden Movement, started discussing possible co-operation.
On March 10 the BAPU-PU, the IMRO and the UFD sent the UtDF a letter inviting UDF leader Nadezhda Mihailova, who represents the coalition, to a meeting.
In an interview with the Mediapool website, the deputy leader of the BAPU-PU Borislav Kitov said that they wanted to discuss co-operation possibilities.
UDF deputy leader Nikolai Mladenov responded that the UtDF was ready for co-operation.
Meanwhile, the UtDF expanded its coalition by signing an agreement with one of the Roma parties, DROM, and the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union - United (BAPU-United).
UDF leader Mihailova announced that the agreement had been achieved late on the night of March 14.
According to unofficial information, the two new members of the coalition would get one electable place each, but not at the head of the lists.
At its March 15 meeting, the national council of the party approved the forming of the UtDF coalition, with only one vote against and one abstention.
After the meeting, Mihailova said that the main goal of the UtDF coalition was, after talks with other right-wing formations, to get a parliamentary majority, to form a government with a prime minister from the UDF.
Gergyovden leader Lyuben Dilov Jr. said that apart from having a joint programme and commitment to form a government, the coalition would also have a joint election headquarters, which would approve the lists of candidates.
The joining of the BAPU-United to the UtDF, however, might cause a problem in the negotiations with the coalition of the BAPU-PU, the IMRO and the UFD, as BAPU-PU leader Anastasia Mozer could not reach an agreement with the leadership of the BAPU-United, in spite of their best efforts to draw her party into their union.
In spite of several meetings among the agrarian unions, the most recent being held this past week, the BAPU-PU and the BAPU-United could not reach a clear common position and their unification remained in question.