Bulgarian Socialist Party

Te Bulgarian Socialist Party will try to form a government," BSP leader Korneliya Ninova said for BNT minutes before being handed the third exploratory mandate for forming a government by the President.

Kornelia Ninova, the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, casts her vote at parliamentary elections in March 2017. Photo: EPA/VASSIL DONEV

The BSP, which came third in the most recent polls in July, is being given the chance to form a government after failed attempts by the winning party There is Such a Nation and former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's GERB.

President Rumen Radev Friday presented the third government-forming mandate to the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which is the third largest parliamentary group in the 46th National Assembly. It is the last chance for this Parliament to try to form a government after the biggest and second biggest groups, There Is Such a People (TISP) and GERB, were unable or unwilling to do that.

Gerb leder and former PM Boyko Borissov speaking after the July elections in Sofia, Bulgaria, 12 July 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

However, hinting at its ambitions to form a government soon, despite returning the mandate to President Rumen Radev, GERB also announced a projected cabinet as a sign that it is ready to offer a new government at any time. 

In a parliamentary declaration, the "There is Such a People" party (TISP) accused the representatives of the so-called "parties of the protest" - "Democratic Bulgaria", "Stand up BG! We are coming!", as well as the BSP ofhypocrisy, lack of parliamentarianism and craving for cabinet posts during the negotiationson forming a government with the mandate of TISP.

The leader of There is Such a People (TISP), Slavi Trifonov, Saturday reiterated on Bulgarian National Radio that his party will not support a government on the third cabinet-forming mandate, which under the Constitution President Rumen Radev has to hand either to the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Democratic Bulgaria or Rise Up BG! Here We Come!

The Bulgarian political world was shocked into action on August 10 when the party that won the country's July 11 elections, There is Such a Nation, withdrew its ministerial nominations, including a large number of young unknowns who were educated abroad, one day before a scheduled parliamentary approval vote.  

An honour guard in front of parliament in Sofia, Bulgaria in July. Photo: EPA/EFE / VASSIL DONEV

"This means new elections," the leader of the party, Slavi Trifonov, said in a video statement.

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.

Bulgaria's winning party in the July elections, the political newcomer "There is Such a Nation", received a mandate to form a government from President Rumen Radev on Friday and proposed businessman Plamen Nikolov for its choice of Prime Minister.