Svetoslav TodorovSofiaBIRNMay 4, 202313:54With GERB seemingly unable to form any combination that has a majority in parliament, momentum is shifting towards yet another election in a country stuck in a permanent stalemate.
GERB party leader Boyko Borissov speaks during a-post-election press conference in Sofia, 5 April 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV
Expectations are growing that Bulgaria will head to a sixth general election in two years, although President Rumen Radev is yet to hand a mandate to GERB, the winners of the inconclusive April 2 elections.
On Thursday, GERB leader and former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov reconfirmed that he has stopped discussions with his opponents in “We Continue the Change” and Democratic Bulgaria on forming a government.
He also said his allies in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the Bulgarian Socialist Party are not viable coalition partners.
This leaves GERB with no combination that can muster a majority in Bulgaria’s 240-seat parliament.
“We’re all heading to the abyss of the next elections,” Borissov told media in a confrontational manner, calling WCC/DB’s stance to not collaborate with GERB “arrogant, irresponsible and impossible”, and chiding the media for “manipulatively” covering recent international sanctions imposed on members of GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms as an example of journalists falling for the narratives of his opponents.
“The political class does not deserve the votes of the citizens,” added Borissov, clarifying that he is “not nervous, only serious”.
On Tuesday, WCC and Democratic Bulgaria tried to be a step ahead of events: the reformist alliance, part of Kiril Petkov’s 2021-2022 coalition, and coming second in the last elections, announced a project cabinet, with former Education Minister Nickolay Denkov as their project PM.
Borissov said GERB can only support a cabinet formed by his rivals if there are ministers from his party, adding: “I’m their only friend.”
On Thursday, former PM Petkov – who wants votes from GERB in parliament if the mandate moves to them, but not their actual presence in the government – said: “We showed a strategy of full transparency by sharing our plans for statutory and administrative reforms … now the time has come for them to take responsibility – a decision that will either move the country forward or we will return to the dark years of corruption and Eurasian rule.”
Petkov will only receive a mandate if Borissov returns it unfulfilled, but more than a month on from elections, the President has yet to announce when he will officially hand the mandate.
According to a survey by Market Links, published on May 3, 29 per cent of voters would support a coalition between GERB and “We Continue the Change” and 56 per cent are against such a move.
Despite the low number, this is still the form of governance that enjoys the highest trust; 27 per cent would prefer another interim government, and 23 per cent would like GERB to side with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the Socialist Party.
New elections will also mean another cabinet selected by President Radev, associated with several pro-Kremlin statements over the years and who has grown in influence since the beginning of the turmoil.
“We should wish Radev all health because it seems like he will rule for a long time,” Borissov also said ironically on Wednesday.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
