SOFIA: Support for Bulgaria's ruling GERB party weakened in February following a bugging scandal which the opposition says shows high-level officials handed out political favours, a poll by Gallup International showed on Sunday.

Support for the centre-right party of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, who came to power promising to fight graft and organised crime and put an end to a climate of impunity, fell to 27.3 percent in February from 30.9 percent a month earlier.

The prolonged recession and the delays of crucial reforms in the healthcare and pension systems have eroded support for GERB which stood at 39 percent last February.

In January, Borisov, the head of the customs agency and senior GERB members were drawn into a bugging scandal after taped calls were leaked to a newspaper and a political party and transcripts were published by local media.

Borisov has denied any wrongdoing. His cabinet sought and won a vote of confidence in parliament as a mandate for its goals of cracking down on crime and corruption and pushing ahead with reforms in the European Union's poorest member state.

Backing for the opposition Socialists, who led the previous government, fell 1.2 percentage points to 15.7 percent in February, the nation-wide poll conducted between Jan. 27 and Feb. 3 showed.

Support for GERB's allies, the nationalist Attack party, edged up to 2.8 percent while backing for the right-wing Blue Coalition dropped to 2.3 percent.

PARTY                            GALLUP    GALLUP    MBMD        ALPHA

                                                                                RESEARCH

poll conducted                     Feb        Jan          Dec             Dec

1.GERB                             27.3        30.9         33.7          27.0

2.Socialist Party (BSP)        15.7       16.9        14.2            15.2

3.Movement for Rights and   6.1        6.3          6.1              5.0

Freedom (MVF)

4.Attack                             2.8        2.7          2.5                3.0

5.Coalition Union of

Democratic                        2.3          3.5         3.7              4.4   

Forces (UDF) and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB)

6. Order, Law and Justice     0.7         0.7         0.3              0.8

    (OLJ)