site.btaTISP Party MP Balabanov: TISP Would Form Expert Government with Third Mandate

Stanislav Balabanov MP of There Is Such a People (TISP) said in an interview for the Bulgarian National Television here on Saturday that his party would like to receive the potential third exploratory government-forming mandate from President Rumen Radev in order to form an expert government that could save the country from the ongoing political crisis. The MP confirmed that his party will not back the first or the second mandate, which are bound by Constitution to go to the two largest groups, GERB-UDF and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF).

The third exploratory government-forming mandate gets handed over by the President to a parliamentary party of their choice.

Balabanov said: "TISP will not in any way betray the 125,000 Bulgarians who supported us unlike the assemblage [a term used to describe the former regular government's ruling majority that often carries a negative connotation]." He referred to Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, saying that they were put in a humiliating situation, which forced them into being the opposition in Parliament.

Balabanov seemed to agree with Martin Dimitrov MP of CC-DB, saying that Radev handing over the third exploratory government-forming mandate to CC-DB is unlikely. The TISP MP's reasoning was that Radev once called CC-DB charlatans. Balabanov alleged that the members of this coalition are power hungry and strive for a political government rather than an expert one.

Answering to allegations that TISP is turning into "the little MRF" after having supported GERB-UDF's Raya Nazaryan MP's nomination for National Assembly Chair, Balabanov said that TISP has proved to be the most reasonable political force in Parliament so far. He called for having labels dropped once and for all.