Bulgarian Prez asks third party to form govt

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has asked the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the third-largest party in the country’s newly elected Parliament, to form a new government after previous attempts have failed.

The socialist party has maintained openness and dialogue in its efforts to form a government, Radev said on Friday while giving the mandate to Korneliya Ninova, leader of the party. “We understand the responsibility we are taking on,” said Ninova, whose party has 36 seats in the 240-member Parliament, reports Xinhua news agency.

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Ninova’s party has seven days to form a government, which needs to be approved by Parliament in a simple majority vote, according to the country’s Constitution. Should no agreement on the formation of a government be reached, Radev must dissolve Parliament and schedule new elections.

Both the There Is Such a People party and the GERB-UDF coalition, the largest and second largest parties respectively in Bulgaria, have given up efforts to form a government.

Radev first entrusted the task of forming a new government to the largest There Is Such a People party, which has 65 seats, on July 30.

However, it abandoned the task after nearly two weeks of fruitless negotiations with potential partners in the parliament including the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Democratic Bulgaria, and “Rise up BG! We are Coming”.