site.btaUPDATED President Tells CC-DB He Will Hand Second Government Mandate "As Result of Their Actions and Reactions of Other Political Forces"

Meeting with Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) here Monday, President Rumen Radev said he will decide the timing of handing the second exploratory mandate for the formation of a government "as a result of their actions and the reactions of the other political forces". The meeting was held on the request of CC-DB who asked to discuss the current political situation with the head of State. Talking to the President, CC-DB floor leader Nikolay Denkov said they have "an unconventional decision related to counter-corruption combat and involving a package of legislative solutions". 

The first government-forming mandate went to GERB-UDF in their capacity as the largest political force in Parliament but the government they proposed was not backed the legislature. The second exploratory mandate should have gone to the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) but a rift in the party and the expulsion of 17 of the MPs from the group, and subsequent walkout of several more, made it lose the second place to CC-DB. 

Rumen Radev told Denkov that he understood that they needed time to work in the Parliament. "In whatever form these important demands are packaged, they invariably lead to the provisions of the Constitution for this fundamental question: is there a majority in the 50th National Assembly to form a government.  According to the provisions of the Constitution, you have to answer this important question first because you have 39 MPs and your ideas [for legislative solutions] require a majority. And some of the things you are proposing will require a qualified majority." 

The President also said that people expect of Parliament to make a number of important decisions, including to make long overdue election of members to regulators. "The constitutional provisions on the handing of government mandates to the parliamentary groups are about a procedure to form a government - not about the legislative agenda of Parliament," said the President. 

 He also added that "in difficult situations of crises, everybody should stick to the law and mostly to the Constitution".