Bulgaria’s parliament rejected the government nominated by the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, according to bne IntelliNews.
All MPs except those from the GERB and two-thirds of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) voted against.
Party leader Boyko Borissov stated that it would propose a minority government because, apart from the DPS, no other party had agreed to participate in the ruling coalition. The party nominated former parliamentary speaker, Rosen Zhelyazkov, for prime minister and included seven current interim ministers in the proposed government.
On 3 July, Zhelyazkov’s government was supported by only 98 MPs, including 68 from the GERB and 30 from the DPS. One deputy from the DPS abstained and all other deputies voted against it.
After the failure of the first mandate to form a government, President Rumen Radev will transfer the second of the three mandates to the DPS, the second largest party in parliament. The chances of success are slim, however, as no other formation will currently agree to support the DPS led by Delyan Peevski.
Change Continues-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) stated that it would neither seek nor attempt to fulfil a mandate in the parliament, as it had no natural allies. In addition to CC-DB, Vazrazhdane, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Greatness, and There Are Such People (ITN) parties are represented in the parliament.
All four are ready to join forces if they are given a third mandate. However, they will not have enough MPs unless they are supported by the GERB or the DPS.
Fragmented government
Meanwhile, the situation in the highly fragmented parliament is becoming increasingly unstable. The last few days have revealed a conflict between Peevski and the DPS’ chairman of honour Ahmed Dogan.
Earlier, on 3 July, long-time DPS member Ramadan Atalai confirmed this, adding that Dogan had advised DPS MPs not to support the GERB government. A few hours later, Atalai was excluded by Peevski from the DPS parliamentary group but refused to resign as an MP.
Until now, Dogan was considered Bulgaria‘s most influential politician. He chose Peevski, together with Dzhevdet Chakarov, as co-chairman of the party. However, after 9 June, Peevski has been actively removing those politicians who are most loyal to Dogan.
