Bulgarian Election Winner’s Bid to Form Cabinet Likely to Fail

A deputy enters the plenary hall before the new parliament's first session in Sofia on July 21, 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

"The discussions are ongoing", political newcomer and proposed PM Plamen Nikolov said on Thursday, declining to give more specific information.

Whether "There is Such a Nation" can muster a majority, without which the mandate to form a government will go to the former ruling GERB party, is expected to become clear by Friday.

But there are few signs that the proposed cabinet will gain the trust of the other parties who were in opposition to GERB, the pro-EU Democratic Bulgaria, "Stand Up.BG! We're Coming!", which arose out from the 2020-2021 protest wave, and the pro-Moscow Bulgarian Socialist Party.

Since July's repeat elections, in which "There is Such a Nation" came first with 24.08 per cent of the vote, it has been trying to form a cabinet alone, with the support of the other opposition parties but without any of their MPs as ministers.

Curiously, its projected ministerial list does not include the party's leaders: entertainer-turned-politician Slavi Trifonov and his screenwriter, Toshko Yordanov. 

Democratic Bulgaria and "Stand Up.BG! We're Coming!" are increasingly critical towards "There is Such a Nation".

"We have not made a final decision on whether to support the cabinet because there is a lack of basic information on which we could base our position," Hristo Ivanov, co-leader of Democratic Bulgaria, stated on Sunday. On Wednesday, he described the situation as "very complex". 

"The behaviour of 'There is Such a Nation' has nothing to do with respecting the rules," Tatyana Doncheva, of "Stand Up.BG!" said in a Wednesday interview for bTV. "They have no idea how to play out...

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