Bulgarian Socialists, Ethic Turks Pledge Not to Form Interim Government

Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Sergey Stanishev has reiterated that his party will immediately reject a mandate to form a new government.

On Monday, outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov also turned down the presidential mandate given to his party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) to form an interim Cabinet.

President Rosen Plevneliev is to offer the mandate to the Bulgarian Socialist Party on Wednesday. The Constitution requires giving the mandate to the second largest parliamentary group once the largest rejects it.

The third largest party in parliament, the ethnic Turkish Movements for Rights and Freedoms, has also reiterated that it does not intend to form an interim Cabinet, the Bulgarian National Radio informs.

Once the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms also refuse to form a new Cabinet, the President will have to appoint a caretaker government, and then, with one single decree, adjourn the Parliament and schedule a new general election.

The caretaker government's term is up to two months as well, with its main task being the organization of snap election. The snap election will be held no later than mid-May.

Last week, Bulgaria's Parliament approved the resignation of the GERB government amidst unprecedented since 1997 protest rallies against unbearable utility bills and wide-spread poverty that turned into a civil unrest against the political model of ruling the country.