Bulgaria's center-right GERB holds strong lead before October 5 election

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's center-right GERB party holds a strong lead over the Socialists, whose government collapsed after a year in office, ahead of the early election on Oct. 5, a Gallup International poll showed. Support for GERB stood at 35.9 percent, almost twice the popularity of the Socialists at 18.3 percent, the poll of 1,010 Bulgarians conducted from Sept. 12-18 showed. GERB is unlikely to win an outright majority in the election, the Balkan country's third in less than two years, and may be forced to lead a coalition that will struggle to push ahead with reforms, political analysts say. The Socialist-led government resigned in July after a poor performance in the European Parliament election. Its year in office was overshadowed by political instability, massive anti-corruption protests, floods and a banking crisis. It came to office after a GERB government was forced to resign in early 2013 following protests over living standards and high utility bills. The ethnic Turkish MRF party registered backing from 14.2 percent of Bulgarians, while the newly formed populist party Bulgaria Without Censorship was at 5.8 percent. The popularity of right-wing Reformist Bloc, GERB's likely partner, stood at 5.6 percent. (Gallup International and Alpha Research are independent polling agencies. ) (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Janet Lawrence)