Bulgaria on verge of procedure to try to get a government elected

Sofia: Bulgarian President Roumen Radev will on December 10 begin a process of consultations by meeting Parliament’s two largest groups, a step mandated by the constitution as a prelude to the procedure to try to get a government elected.

This step has become possible after the 51st National Assembly that was elected on October 27 finally elected a Speaker on December 6, enabling the formal formation of parliamentary groups.

According to the President’s website, Radev will hold talks with GERB-UDF, the largest parliamentary group and thus to be the first to get a mandate to seek to form a government, then the We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria group, which as the second-largest group would get the next mandate should the first stage fail.

There is a third stage, in which the head of state has a free hand to choose to which group to offer a mandate. Failure at that stage would propel Bulgaria to early parliamentary elections, which would the eighth time in four years that Bulgarians elect a legislature.

It is not known whether GERB-UDF leader Boiko Borissov will attend the consultations, from which in recent years he has absented himself.

However, according to Denitsa Sacheva, a GERB-UDF deputy parliamentary leader, Borissov would receive the first mandate to try to form a government.

Given that there have been mixed messages from GERB-UDF and its leader, it is not clear what Borissov will do with the first mandate – seek to fulfil it or hand it back to Radev immediately.

Borissov has been insisting that he should be the Prime Minister-designate, a scenario rejected by all other parliamentary groups.

He has spoken of a possible ruling majority involving GERB-UDF, WCC-DB, the Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left coalition and populist ITN.

As of December 9, a meeting of WCC-DB ended without a decision on whether to agree to negotiations with GERB-UDF.

WCC co-leaders Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev have been insisting that GERB-UDF, along with other parliamentary groups, sign a declaration on a cordon sanitaire around Delyan Peevski, the controversial figure subject to US and UK sanctions over corruption, and his parliamentary group, as a precondition for co-operation.

WCC was to meet on the evening of December 9 to decide its position on whether to embark on negotiations with GERB-UDF.

Before Monday’s WCC-DB meeting, the Democratic Bulgaria coalition issued a statement saying that it was necessary to make a “real and responsible” attempt to form a government in the 51st National Assembly.

The President’s office has not yet announced when Radev will hold consultations with the remaining parliamentary groups, and it is not known when he will hand over the first mandate.