Bulgaria Right-Wingers to President: Don't Give Govt Mandate to Turks

Bulgaria's die-hard right-wingers have called on the president to form a government of experts, instead of offering the mandate for a caretaker cabinet to the ethnic Turkish party

"We want to stop the Socialists and ethnic Turks from coming to power again," Ivan Kostov, founder and leader of Democrats for Strong Bulgaria said in parliament on March 4.

He insisted that the president make a final attempt to launch talks and set up a program government of experts, keeping thus the work of the parliament going.

"We are ready to take on the responsbility to table in parliament this government," Kostov said.

"During our term we established a functioning market economy."

Bulgaria's President, Rosen Plevneliev, has postponed for March 5 giving the mandate to the ethnic Turkish party, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, to form a caretaker government.

At the beginning of last week, Plevneliev publicly announced he would do the above on March 1.

His press office distributed the change of schedule without an explanation for the reasons behind it.

The party has already declared they refuse to participate in an interim government, prompting many to question the President's decision and his motives.

On February 21, the Parliament approved the resignation of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, and his center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, amidst unprecedented since 1997 protest rallies against unbearable utility bills, monopolies and wide-spread poverty that turned into a civil unrest against the political model of ruling the country.

In his capacity of former Prime Minister Ivan Kostov has been credited, mostly abroad, with throwing out the ex-communists who had pushed the country to the brink of financial crisis in the 90s.

But at home, he is the biggest sinner on the political scene. Because of his tough character - Kostov is the only one who dared to show his huge disappointments with Bulgarians and fell silent for two years - and the opportunities that he had but wasted - to put it mildly - for turning Bulgaria into a Poland or the Czech Republic.

Made up of remnants of the once ruling UDF, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria and the United Democratic Forces were the biggest player in the right-wing, but then got plagued by crises and election defeats.

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