Caretaker PM: 'No Moral Virgins' Entered Bulgaria's New Parliament

Bulgarian PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs Marin Raykov. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's caretaker PM Marin Raykov has used a curious expression to stress that parties that entered Bulgaria's Parliament after Sunday's snap vote will have a hard time winning public trust.

"The new parliament will be composed by politial forces which have all taken part in ruling Bulgaria in the past. There are no moral virgins among them," said Raykov at a briefing Monday.

The four parties to form Bulgaria's 42th National Assembly are center-right GERB, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms and nationalists Ataka.

GERB was responsible for the country's 2009-13 cabinet led by ex-PM Boyko Borisov, while the Socialists and MRF were part of the previous tripartite coalition government.

Ataka, however, have never been officially part of government in Bulgaria, although their parliamentary group in the last assembly at first was supportive of the Borisov cabinet.

At the press event Monday, Raykov stressed that all parties elected to parliament must exercise restraint and pragmatic thinking in order to achieve a stable government.

With GERB receiving some 31% of the vote, followed by the Socialists at 27%, the formation of a cabinet is expected to be hard, given deep lines of hostility among the parties in Bulgaria's new parliament.

The caretaker PM urged party politicians to quit what he called a divisive and scandal-seeking tone they have adopted of late and to act responsibly.

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