The “We Continue the Change” (PP) coalition, the second largest group in Bulgaria’s new Parliament, on Monday abandoned efforts to form a new government after it failed to secure a majority.
Nikolai Denkov, the coalition’s nominee for prime minister, returned the exploratory mandate to President Rumen Radev, telling him that “unfortunately, the list of national goals, with priorities and tasks for their achievement, which the PP proposed to the other parties in Parliament, did not receive enough political support.”
Discussions to form a government will continue, Denkov said. His coalition holds 53 seats in the 240-member Parliament.
Radev, who mandated Denkov with the task on Jan. 3, first entrusted the task of forming a new government to the coalition of GERB-UDF, which holds 67 seats, on Dec. 5, but it also failed to garner enough support in Parliament.
Under the country’s Constitution, there remains only one chance to form a government within the current Parliament, which was elected on Oct. 2 last year.
The third and last exploratory mandate should be given to one of the minor parliamentary groups.
Should no agreement on the formation of a government be reached, Radev must dissolve Parliament and schedule new elections.
