Sofia - The Bulgarian parliament on Monday approved a minority government led by former Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov, three weeks after the parliamentary elections took place.

The parliament approved the centre-right government with 162 votes for and 78 against.

The conservative GERB party won 116 seats in the parliament in the July 5 election, and was only five seats short of a majority in the 240 seat assembly, the Sofia News Agency reported.

Three small right-wing parties - the nationalist Ataka party with 21 seats, the rightist Blue coalition with 15 and the conservative RZS party with 10 seats in the parliament all supported the minority government.

The former ruling Socialist Party and its coalition partner the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms voted against the cabinet, which will have 16 ministers.

In his speech before the parliament Borisov made the fight against corruption and the fight against economic crisis his top priorities. The European Union, which Bulgaria joined in 2007, has blocked 711 million dollars worth of aid because of persistent corruption.

"The trust of the EU has its limits. It is time to prove we can continue with the reforms," Borisov said. "This will not be an easy way, this will be a challenge but that is not going to shake our principles." (dpa)