Former Bulgarian Commissioner to form own political party

(SOFIA) - Ex-EU commissioner Meglena Kuneva, a fierce critic of Bulgaria's notoriously corrupt political parties, said Wednesday she would form her own party in September, eyeing 2013 general elections.

"We want people to have the certainty that their voice is heard, that they make politics, that they correct politics," Kuneva announced in the northern city of Ruse, state BTA agency reported.

"We expect this party to attract many intelligent people, normal people," she added.

Kuneva said she wanted to return Bulgaria to its citizens and provide an alternative to the current corruption-ridden political elite, controlled by oligarchs and engaged in vote-buying, according to BTA.

"We want to become a prime political power. We will make every effort to achieve a good result as early as the next general elections but this is a long political project that will not compromise honesty," Kuneva said.

A former European integration minister in the centrist government of ex-king Simeon Saxe Coburg which ushered Bulgaria into the EU in 2007, Kuneva later became the country's first European Commissioner, responsible for consumer protection.

Last October, she ran for president, winning 15 percent support as an independent and coming third after the principal right- and left-wing candidates.

Kuneva's civil movement "Bulgaria for the Citizens," which will become a full-fledged party in September, already has 13,000 supporters.

A poll of the Mediana institute published Wednesday showed that the movement currently garners 5.5 percent support, following the ruling right-wing GERB party, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Turkish minority Movement for Rights and Freedoms party.