site.btaPresident Radev Says Early Parliamentary Elections Likely on July 11

Sofia, May 5 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev Wednesday said early
parliamentary elections were likely to be held on July 11. Next
week he will dissolve the 45th National Assembly elected on
April 4 and will appoint a caretaker cabinet.

This announcement came after Radev presented the third, and
last, cabinet-forming mandate to the parliamentary group of BSP
for Bulgaria, which returned it promptly in line with a decision
 of its National Council. 

Radev warned: "It is clear in this situation that we are heading
 for a dissolution of Parliament and the scheduling of early
elections, but if they lead to the same stalemate and a cabinet
cannot be formed, Bulgaria may end up in a political as well as
a constitutional crisis." He urged the political parties and
coalitions to sort out their priorities, rethink their conduct
and seek unity of action for the sake of Bulgaria's urgent
agenda: restoration of the democratic institutions, rule of law,
 fighting the pandemic, bankruptcies and poverty.

Radev said that the months ahead would be very intense and the
presidential institution would perform very responsibly its
constitutional role as a guarantor of stability amid the dynamic
 developments.

"We should act responsibly and efficiently to avoid chaos in the
 upcoming elections," said the President. To this end, he has
decided that the new Central Election Commission (CEC) should
start work as soon as the National Assembly is dissolved and the
 general elections are scheduled. The decree on Parliament's
dissolution is expected to be issued on May 11.

A caretaker government must be made up of respected experts who,
 despite their political predilections, will rally around an
important objective - the holding of fair elections and
governing the country in difficult times, said Radev. He is
planning to invite recognized left-wing experts, who
accomplished their mission in the caretaker government he
appointed in 2017. 

The President said he appreciated highly that the Bulgarian
Socialist Party decided against forming an expert, programmatic
or another type of government because Bulgaria needs a resolute
political alternative which the present Parliament failed to
produce.

BSP for Bulgaria Floor Leader Kornelia Ninova said they were in
favour of a government that would solve several important
issues: approve social policies to help people and
business-support measures, prepare the Recovery and Resilience
Plan, and launch a real scrutiny leading to the dismantling of
"the Borissov model". She added that BSP for Bulgaria reached
out to There Is Such a People but they rejected the extended
hand.

The GERB-UDF coalition, which won 75 seats in the 240-seat
Parliament, returned the exploratory mandate on April 23 after
failing to secure support for its proposed cabinet. The
second-largest parliamentary group, There Is Such a People,
which has 51 MPs, returned the mandate upon receiving it on
April 28.

The Administration of the President worked hard during the
Easter holidays to prepare the rules and the required documents,
 said Radev, who will hold consultations with the parliamentary
forces about their nominations to the CEC on Wednesday. The
nominees will be given a public hearing on May 7.

BSP for Bulgaria received and returned the cabinet-forming
mandate against the backdrop of two rallies in front of the
building of the President's Administration - one against Radev
and the adopted revisions to the electoral legislation, and the
other against the outgoing government of Prime Minister Boyko
Borissov. The rallies were held amid tight police presence.
 
RY/DD