site.btaCoalition for Bulgaria Declines Mandate to Form Government

Sofia, July 25 (BTA) - Coalition for Bulgaria declined a mandate to form a government, handed by President Rosen Plevneliev on Friday.

The move was expected after parliamentary parties reached an agreement in late June to hold early elections on October 5. However, expectations that Coalition for Bulgaria would return the mandate only after a Bulgarian Socialist Party congress on Sunday when a new leader will be elected did not come through. 

Under the Constitution, following consultations with the parliamentary groups, the President must asks the largest parliamentary group to form a government. If it fails to fulfil this exploratory mandate within seven days, the President hands the mandate to the second largest parliamentary group, and then to one of the remaining
parliamentary groups, who, too, have each one week to  carry out the task. If all three attempts fail, the President  must appoint  a caretaker cabinet, dissolve the National  Assembly and, by the same decree, schedule new parliamentary  elections within two months. The largest parliamentary group GERB declined the mandate on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, President Plevneliev said he would hand the third exploratory mandate to the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). MRF Deputy Floor Leader Aliosman Imamov told journalists in Parliament that the MRF will return the mandate. "We haven't considered any other options," he said, reacting to a statement by Coalition for Bulgaria Floor Leader Atanas Merdzhanov that "a new parliamentary majority between GERB and the MRF may pass changes to the state budget and form a new government."