Bulgarian parliament to be dissolved after failed attempts to form government

ANKARA

Bulgaria’s parliament is set to be dissolved on Friday after failed attempts to form a government, local media reported on Thursday.

Ahead of expected fresh early elections on April 2, President Rumen Radev has extended the mandate of the caretaker government led by Galab Donev, said the state-run BTA news agency.

Political crisis in Bulgaria

The political crisis in Bulgaria began in the aftermath of the general elections of April 2021.

Due to the parties’ inability to reach a consensus on forming a government, Bulgarian voters subsequently went to the polls for early elections three times: in July and November of 2021, and then last October.

The country has been governed by interim governments that President Rumen Radev has set up since April 2021, as no government with a vote of confidence from parliament has been formed.

In the meantime, Radev tasked various political parties represented in parliament 12 times to form the government.

Radev finally gave the task of forming the government to the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which has 24 seats in the parliament and does politics in line with the former Bulgarian Communist Party.

But they also failed to receive support from other parties.

Radev then set a date of April 2 for early general elections, and with another decree, announced that he would dissolve the parliament as of Feb. 3.​​​​​​​