Bulgarian Socialists turn down mandate to form government

Under the procedure prescribed by the Constitution of Bulgaria President Plevneliev handed a mandate for a new government to the second largest party in the National Assembly – the leftwing Coalition for Bulgaria.

On behalf of the coalition, Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Sergei Stanishev turned down the mandate saying that the country needed a government that should solve people’s problems. On 25 Feb. the ruling GERB party turned down its mandate too. Now the president will hand a mandate to a third party. If it turns down the mandate, then the head of state should appoint a caretaker government, dissolve parliament and date early parliamentary elections.

At an address to the National Assembly on February 28 President Rosen Plevneliev will announce the date of the early parliamentary elections provided the Movement for Rights and Freedoms appointed by the head of state as the third parliamentary party to receive a mandate for a new government, returns in mandate like the two previous parties.

Adapted from Bulgarian National Radio