Bulgaria faces fresh elections after PM cabinet refusal
by Compiled from Wire Services
ISTANBULDec 03, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Compiled from Wire Services
Dec 03, 2016 12:00 am
Bulgaria is facing fresh elections next spring after outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the leader of the largest party in parliament, on Friday refused to form a new cabinet.
The tough-guy premier resigned in November after his candidate was beaten by a Moscow-friendly general in the presidential elections, sparking renewed political instability in the EU's poorest country, where no other party can currently form a government without the support of Borisov's conservative GERB party.
"I will not propose to form a new government and I hand back the mandate," Borisov told President Rosen Plevneliev at a ceremony in Sofia.
Under Bulgaria's constitution, the outgoing president will hand another mandate next Thursday to the second largest party, Socialist BSP, and then pick a third party for a final attempt to avert a snap vote. The Socialists have already said they would also return the mandate and go for elections.
"The road to early elections is clear," analyst Dimitar Ganev said, adding that Borisov's resignation was a "tactical move" meant to "keep GERB's leading position."
Bulgaria's president-elect, the Socialist-backed former air force general Rumen Radev, will take office only in January so the outgoing Plevneliev will have to appoint a caretaker administration until then. This will be Bulgaria's fifth cabinet in less than four years.
When Radev takes office on Jan. 22 he will dissolve the current parliament and set a date for the snap vote, expected to be held in late March at the earliest. It could well see GERB return as the largest party but fall short of the majority needed to govern alone, polls show.
Halfway into its four-year term, Borisov's coalition government has managed to restore political stability after months of anti-corruption protests. But its popularity has faded because of the slow pace of reforms to eliminate graft and poverty, and overhaul the judicial system. A political novice, Radev attracted many Bulgarians who are fed up with corrupt politicians. The former NATO fighter pilot, who once studied at the U.S. Air War College in Alabama, has pledged to maintain Bulgaria's place in NATO but also says "being pro-European doesn't mean being anti-Russian."
"During his election campaign, the U.S. president-elect said categorically that he is going to have a deeper dialogue with Russia," Radev said after the vote and added, "it gives strong hope for a peaceful solution of the conflicts in Syria and in Ukraine, and reducing confrontation."
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