site.btaUPDATED President to Hand GERB-UDF Cabinet Forming Mandate on Jan. 15

On January 15 at 12 noon, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev will hand GERB-UDF as the largest parliаmentary group in the 51st National Assembly a mandate to form a cabinet, the head of State's Press Secretariat reported on Monday.

Under the Constitution, the President mandates the largest parliamentary group to form a government. If the group fails to do so, he mandates the second largest one. If it also fails, the third exploratory mandate goes to a parliamentary group chosen by the President. Failure to form a regular government under the third mandate results in snap parliamentary elections.

Since the latest early parliamentary elections on October 27, 2024, the country has been run by a caretaker cabinet headed by Dimitar Glavchev.

GERB-UDF, which garnered most votes in the polls and was allocated the largest number of legislative seats, has been engaged in negotiations with three other parliamentary entities: Democratic Bulgaria (DB), BSP-United Left and There Is Such a People (TISP).

A week ago, the talks with DB were discontinued and went on with the two other parliamentary groups. The three combined, however, do not hold the 121-majority required to vote a cabinet into office. President Radev said then that he would give the parties' negotiators a few more days before handing the first exploratory mandate.

The BSP-United Left has decided to sign a governance agreement. For their part, Democracy, Rights and Freedom - DRF said in a press release that they had met with GERB-UDF, BSP-United Left and TISP to weigh the chances of putting together a parliamentary majority large enough to render up a cabinet.