Bulgaria’s populists reject mandate to form government, set stage for snap vote

Bulgaria's populist There Is Such a People (ITN) party has declined to try to form a new national government, paving the way for President Rumen Radev to call snap elections.

ITN's move came after the center-right GERB party and its former coalition partner We Continue the Change (PP) both said they could not form a new government.

"Elections are the highest form of democracy, we're going to hold this folder for a few more seconds and return it to you empty, with an unfulfilled mandate," Ivaylo Valchev, the deputy-head of the ITN parliamentary faction, told Radev in a meeting.

Radev said he will now start seeking a caretaker prime minister to form a cabinet that would be tasked with organizing a snap election.

Bulgaria, the poorest member of the EU and one of its most corrupt states, has been rocked by political instability since anti-graft protests in...