Bulgaria set to hold snap elections in October

SOFIA, Bulgaria

Bulgaria is set to hold snap elections in October, as the third and final attempt to form a government in the country has failed.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which on July 18 was given a mandate to form a government, officially returned it to President Rumen Radev.

Speaking to the press after returning the mandate, Korneliya Ninova, the party’s chairwoman, stressed that it had failed to gather support from parliament despite its best efforts.

Radev, for his part, lamented that the outgoing coalition is leaving things in a sorry state.

“Together with the unfulfilled government-forming mandate, the ruling coalition is leaving behind for the caretaker government chaos in the energy sector,” he said.

This crisis “can grow into a collapse of the economy and the social systems, and this is the worst heritage of the (outgoing) government," he added.

According to Bulgaria’s Constitution, the country is expected to hold snap elections in the first half of October.

The elections will be the fourth in two years for the country, which has been marred by political instability since Prime Minister Kiril Petkov’s government was toppled in a no-confidence vote last month.

Radev last week tasked the Bulgarian Socialist Party with forming a government, following a failed attempt by We Continue the Change (WCC) earlier this month and the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria-Union of Democratic Forces (GERB-UDF) coalition’s refusal after it was handed the mandate on July 14.

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk