Bulgaria Faces Constitutional Crisis after another Failure to Form Cabinet

The attempt to form a government in Bulgaria failed after the showman and leader of There is Such a People (TISP) Stanislav Trifonov announced on 10 August afternoon on his private 7/8 TV that his party would not submit their proposed draft cabinet to parliament for voting.

A little later, the PM designate Plamen Nikolov submitted an official statement to President Rumen Radev and to National Assembly Speaker Iva Miteva that he was withdrawing his consent to be nominated for Prime Minister for personal reasons.

Actually, the reasons are purely political. The two protest parties - Democratic Bulgaria and Stand up BG! We are coming!, stated categorically that they would not support the proposed draft cabinet, while the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) set a condition, which TISP refused to fulfil. The other two parties in parliament - GERB and MRF, remained silent.

Thus, the political crisis grew into a constitutional one. Withdrawal of the draft cabinet at the last moment before its voting in parliament is a precedent in Bulgaria's recent history. The Constitution does not provide for a solution to such a case.

This is TISP's second attempt to form a government. The first one was immediately after the 11 July elections. Even before the final results became clear, Trifonov announced on Facebook and his private television that he was ready with the composition of draft cabinet. He did it without consulting the parties in parliament, from which he expected support. TISP won the most votes, but they brought it only 65 seats in Parliament - too little to form an independent cabinet.

On top of that, the proposed cabinet composition provoked a sharp reaction not only from potential future TISP's partners, but also from voters who had...