site.btaGERB Leader Rules Out Post-election Coalition with Reformist Bloc

Sofia, August 14 (BTA) - Speaking on the Bulgarian National Television, leader of the right-wing GERB party Boyko Borissov ruled out a coalition with the rightist Reformist Block after the October 5 early parliamentary elections. "GERB is not going to be part of a government whose prime minister will be coming to me to report and then report to Ivan Kostov. We do not engage with humbugs," Borissov said. Kostov is the former leader of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB), who are part of the Reformist Bloc.

Borissov's words came in response to attacks from the current DSB leader Radan Kanev who recently resigned as spokesman of the Reformist Bloc. Motivating his resignation, Kanev argued that Borissov had become the true leader of the Reformist Bloc whereas the formation should act as "an alternative of the wrong path of Borissov's governance and of the next government". Kanev is considered a strong candidate to head the Reformist Bloc, which is expected to complicate the relations between the formation and GERB.

Borissov said that if GERB fails to win 121 seats in the new Parliament, the party will return the mandate to form a government. Bulgaria's Parliament has 240 seats. Borissov warned of a failure to have a regular government after the elections. "In the absence of a regular cabinet Bulgaria will be swept in such a spiral of instability that people will starve," Borissov said.