site.btaPatriotic Front Ready to Accept Mandate to Form Government

Patriotic Front Ready to Accept Mandate to Form Government

Sofia, November 23 (BTA) - The Patriotic Front is ready to accept a mandate to form a government, if the President chooses to offer them one and if they find the support they will need from Parliament. This transpired from a statement by Patriotic Front floor leader Valeri Simeonov after talks with President Rosen Plevneliev on Wednesday.

The Patriotic Front were the fifth parliamentary group to meet with the President after GERB, the Socialist Party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the Reformist Bloc, within the framework of his political consultations aimed to prevent an escalation of the political crisis following the resignation of the Boyko Borissov government on November 14.

Simeonov said that the Patriotic Front will announce their position at a meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security with the President next week.

"If there is accord and a readiness to form an expert government, we could accept the mandate," said Simeonov. He said another condition is that the other parties in Parliament provide the support that is needed.

The Patriotic Front has 17 MPs in the 240-seat legislature and will need broad support from the other parties for this project. GERB and the Socialists have vowed not to support or participate in a government with this Parliament.

Another possibility that the Patriotic Front sees is keeping the present government but with a different Prime Minister. They believe that this is a viable option and support exists for it in the present Parliament - all the more so that the large part of the government ministers are doing well their job, to use Simeonov's words.