Bulgarian President to Hand Mandate to Reformist Bloc Next Week

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev will give the Reformist Bloc (RB) coalition a chance to form a cabinet next Monday, December 11, his press office has said.

The ceremony will take place at the Presidency at 11:00.

The RB, a loose coalition of centrist and right-wing parties, will be the third parliamentary force to get a government mandate in a last-ditch effort to lead the country out of a political crisis.

Last week Plevneliev said he would go for the RB once both main parties in the country, GERB and the BSP, had returned the mandate.

The RB already indicated it would try to form a new parliamentary majority, launching political consultations on Tuesday. Boyko Borisov's conservative GERB party to whom Reformists were the junior partner in the outgoing government, had said it would not begin discussing names of potential ministers unless the President granted the coalition an opportunity to form a new administration.

Wednesday's announcement followed a decision by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the second-largest party in Parliament, to return the mandate without trying to form a government.

Bulgaria has been going through political uncertainty since Borisov stepped down as Prime Minister in November.

If the RB fails to secure a big enough majority (consisting of parties and coalitions represented by at least 121 lawmakers), the country will head to an early election for the third time in less than four years.

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