This will be the seventh early vote in just over three years. Of the six elections since 2021, only two have produced an elected government.
Bulgaria’s ‘There Is Such a People’ (ITN) party on Monday returned the third government-forming mandate to President Rumen Radev after coalition talks failed. Thus, Bulgarians will have to elect the composition of the 51st National Assembly, probably in October.
This will be the seventh early vote in just over three years. Of the six elections since 2021, only two have produced an elected government.
“We found that we have no particular differences with the other parties and we could work together, but the political wisdom of one party was not enough,” the chairman of the parliamentary group of ITN, Toshko Yordanov, commented.
“Thank you for your trust in handing over the mandate to us. I don’t need to tell you what happened because it was public. If there is any positivity in what happened, it is that we talked to all the political parties except one. This did not happen either with the first or second mandate,” Toshko Yordanov said.
For his part, the president thanked ITN for trying to fulfil the mandate and commented that going to another early election casts doubt on whether being a parliamentarian is the most effective form of functioning of the state.
“The election spiral continues to rage and not only causes irritation but also unlocks a number of destructive processes, blockage of several institutions, and alienation of citizens.
The solution to the crisis is in the hands of the political parties, and they must accept that the basis for creating a successful coalition, is not after the elections, but before them,” Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said.
Radev also called on the parties to ensure fair play in the coming weeks. He added that today he would invite the Speaker of Parliament, Raya Nazaryan, to discuss the choice of the future caretaker Prime Minister.
The president, after consultation with the parliamentary groups, is expected to appoint a caretaker government on the proposal of the candidate for caretaker prime minister and schedule new elections within two months.
The president can choose a caretaker prime minister from the speaker of the National Assembly, the governor or deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, the chairman or deputy chairman of the Audit Chamber, and the ombudsman or his deputy.
That caretaker government would be the successor-in-office of the current one, which was appointed in April 2024.
Having received the mandate from Radev on July 29, after the first two bids by Parliament’s two largest groups, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB), came to nothing, ITN invited all other parliamentary groups and independent MPs for talks.
ITN called these talks an exploration of common ground on policies ahead of the nomination of an expert government.
With not all groups accepting the invitation and some making it clear in advance that they would not vote for a government nominated with the third mandate, the talks, held in the presence of media cameras, produced no results.
Bulgaria has been plagued by revolving-door governments since 2020 when anti-corruption protests toppled a coalition led by the centre-right GERB party.
