site.btaMPs Comment on Chances of Stable Majority in This Parliament

MPs Comment on Chances of Stable Majority in This Parliament

Sofia, December 16 (BTA) - The Reformist Bloc's attempts to form a cabinet during the present Parliament's term drew comments from several parliamentary groups.

Mustafa Karadayi, leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), said his party saw no chance of a stable majority in the present Parliament. "It has run out of potential and cannot create a majority," he told a news conference after a meeting of the Central Council on Friday.

The MRF is preparing for early parliamentary elections in 2017 and the Central Council set rules and criteria for the nomination of candidates, Karadayi said.

Asked to comment on Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's statement on Thursday that GERB will consider the Reformist Bloc's proposal to form a government, Karadayi said: "While this Parliament can achieve an arithmetic majority, a value-based majority is impossible. We cannot be part of the irresponsible conduct of any political force."

Asked if the MRF is ready for a majoritarian electoral system to be introduced, Karadayi said power and mandates are given by the popular vote: "We must implement our policies and offer a clear, feasible programme - this is what matters." He added that in the last 25 years everyone who changed the election legislation to get an advantage had negative results.

GERB Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov said there was a 20 per cent chance that the Reformist Bloc (RB) would form a government, but it all depended on the official talks between the two. Those chances could improve, he said. The crux of the matter is whether GERB and the Bloc will be able to forge unity based on what has been done so far and whether they can keep implementing the four-year government programme.

Tsvetanov recalled that GERB's MPs said they would meet the public expectations expressed in the November 6 referendum on the electoral system. "We will insist on majoritarian voting," he said.

Kostadin Markov (RB) said Bulgaria's preparations for assuming the EU Presidency in the first half of 2018 and the need of amendments to election legislation are strong arguments for continuing the life of the present Parliament. The Prime Minister's statement in Brussels definitely raises the chance of forming a cabinet, according to Markov.

Commenting on the two-round majoritarian system approved in the referendum, he said: "The Union of Democratic Forces [of the RB coalition] has never been in favour of 100 per cent majoritarian voting." Markov assumed that some form of a mixed system involving majoritarian voting could be considered and approved.

Zhelyo Boychev (BSP-Left Bulgaria) said that fear of a caretaker government appointed after President-elect Rumen Radev takes office on January 22 can make the majority in the present Parliament form a cabinet. Boychev believes that a cabinet formed on the RB's mandate will be "extremely unstable and bad for this country".