Bulgaria’s political crisis: Opposition socialists will not take part in caretaker government
Sergei Stanishev, leader of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, said on February 20 2013 that his party would not accept any offer to form a government or take part in a caretaker government following the resignation earlier in the day of Boiko Borissov’s centre-right cabinet.
The resignation of the Borissov cabinet, to be voted on in Parliament on February 21, where it is certain to be accepted, will trigger a procedure whereby the President should offer parties – in order of the number of their seats in Parliament – the chance of forming a government. Should this process produce no result, a caretaker government will be formed pending the holding of ahead-of-term elections.
Stanishev, leader of the socialist party since 2002 and prime minister from 2005 until 2009 when his tripartite governing coalition was defeated at regular elections by Borissov’s party, said that Borissov’s decision to resign had been taken under the pressure of circumstances and was a panic move.
In resigning, Borissov was hoping to hold on to the last fragments of public confidence in his party, according to Stanishev.
Stanishev called on other parties similarly to refuse the chance to try to form a government.
Earlier, Borissov had said that he and his ministers would not accept any part in a caretaker government.
Stanishev said that an interim government would have several urgent tasks, including the holding of democratic elections and “revealing the whole truth” about the centre-right GERB government’s administration of the country since 2009.
He alleged that already documents were being removed from the Cabinet office to be destroyed.
Stanishev criticised President Rossen Plevneliev for having cancelled a scheduled meeting on February 20 with the leadership of the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
Plevneliev, in office since January 2012 as head of state after having been elected on the ticket of GERB, last year initiated a regular “month of political consultations” with the leaderships of parties represented in Parliament.
Having already met some of the other parties, Plevneliev had announced that he would meet the socialists on February 20.
However, in the first few hours after Borissov announced the government’s resignation in Parliament, the President’s press office announced the cancellation of the meeting with the BSP.
Plevneliev cleared his diary for the rest of the week and said that a planned visit to Vietnam at the end of February was being postponed.
Stanishev said that he could not understand why Plevneliev cancelled the meeting. The BSP leader said that his party had a “clear position” and wanted to know what the position of the head of state was.
At a time of political crisis, the head of state had a major role in accepting responsibility, Stanishev said.
(Photo: Ivan Stoimenov/bsp.bg)
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