Bulgaria's Reformist Bloc May Refrain from Seeking New Govt

Nayden Zelenogorski (R) with Reformist Bloc parties' leaders. File photo, BGNES

Right-wing Reformist Bloc coalition has said it will hand back the mandate to the Bulgarian President next week, without trying to form a new government.

Later staements from members of the bloc, however, have cast a shadow of doubt on whether this position will change.

If the decision is final, the RB has paved the way for an early election in Bulgaria, with two parties before it having refused to make an effort to form a new cabinet after Prime Minister Boyko Borisov resigned.

The RB will return the mandate upon receiving it on Monday, Focus News Agency quotes Nayden Zelenogorski, the co-leader of the bloc faction in Parliament as saying.

"Apparently there is no reformist majority in Parliament and we are going to elections," he has added.

On Thursday, the RB received assurances of support from the nationalist Patriotic Front (PF) coalition, but not from the biggest party in the legislature, Borisov's GERB.

Further, differences betwen the PF and the RB "could not be cleared," Zelenogorski has added.

The decision of the bloc, a loose coalition of right-wing and centrist parties, was "unanimous", he has argued.

However, Bozhidar Lukarski, who heads the Union for Democratic Forces (UDF, one of the bloc members), has donwplayed the claim of Zelenogorski that the RB made a final and official decision.

President Rosen Plevneliev earlier this week said he would hand over the government mandate to the RB on Monday.

In the event of the bloc returning it, the head of state will have to appoint an interim government. His successor Rumen Radev, taking over on January 22, will have to call an early election.

"We are ready for elections and we are heading there," Zelenogorski has made it clear. 

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