The Bulgarian Parliament has rejected Rosen Zhelyazkov's nomination for Prime Minister after more than three hours of debate. The proposed GERB government, with Zhelyazkov at the helm, was turned down.

The vote saw 98 deputies in favor, primarily from GERB and DPS. However, the DPS group was notably divided, with 14 voting against and one abstaining. Delyan Peevski commented on the outcome, noting that "there are 30 Euro-Atlantic MPs in the DPS, and they will remain DPS MPs."

A total of 138 deputies voted against the nomination, including representatives from "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB), "Revival" (Vazrazhdane), Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), "There Is Such a People" (TISP), "Greatness" (Velichie), and independent MP Kaloyan Metodiev. Two deputies chose to abstain.

Despite anticipations of potential tactics to secure a minority cabinet, the political forces refrained from employing any such maneuvers.

Speaking to journalists after the vote, Peevski said that Bulgaria had missed the chance to have a government. It was clear from his words that DPS is unlikely to try to form a cabinet with the second mandate. "Russia wins today," he concluded.

WCC-DB Co-Chairman Asen Vassilev defined the failed attempt to form a GERB government as a waste of time. "In order for a government to be approved, in such a difficult situation, it is necessary to have a preliminary discussion of a program in detail, a preliminary discussion of policies, of a legislative program, and only then can one proceed to form a Council of Ministers and seek support. This an attempt we saw, sorry, but it was just wasting of time," he pointed out.

"It is obvious that the political crisis continues and its solution requires not only putting personal and party interests aside, but also adequacy". This was stated by President Rumen Radev on the sidelines of the Parliament, immediately after the deputies did not support the nomination of Rosen Zhelyazkov for Prime Minister. "What we saw today in the parliamentary debate is that somehow personal attacks dominated the political theses. And the focus was on the past rather than on the present and the future. All of us, especially in times of crisis must be strictly guided by the law. Therefore, I will strictly follow the constitutional procedure from now on," the head of state stressed. Rumen Radev did not want to say when he will hand over the second mandate to form a government.

More information coming soon!

We followed the debate live, more details read here.