President Rumen Radev will formally begin the constitutional procedure for forming a new government on Monday, January 12, at 10:00 a.m., by handing the first exploratory mandate to the prime minister-designate nominated by the largest parliamentary group in the 51st National Assembly, GERB. The information was confirmed by the press office of the head of state.

The move follows the resignation of the previous cabinet and is in line with Article 99, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, which obliges the president to initiate consultations and then assign a mandate to form a government. Under the Basic Law, the first mandate is always given to a candidate proposed by the largest parliamentary force.

If the nominee of GERB fails to present a proposed Council of Ministers within seven days, the president must then hand the mandate to a candidate nominated by the second-largest parliamentary group. Should this attempt also prove unsuccessful, the president is required, again within a one-week timeframe, to assign a third mandate to another parliamentary group of his choosing.

In the event that none of the exploratory mandates result in the formation of a cabinet, the Constitution provides that the president, after consultations with parliamentary groups and on the proposal of a caretaker prime minister, appoints an interim government and schedules early parliamentary elections within two months.

Before the New Year, President Radev held consultations with all parliamentary groups, signaling that the next step would be the distribution of mandates. After the Epiphany blessing of the flags and battle banners of the Bulgarian Army, he stated that he intended to proceed with the process as quickly as possible, despite the parliamentary recess, although no exact date was announced at that time.

Members of parliament were in recess from December 22 to January 10, with the first plenary sitting of the National Assembly scheduled for January 14. The handing over of the mandate on January 12 therefore comes just ahead of the resumption of parliamentary work.