Bulgaria’s April elections: GERB-UDF to invite all parties for talks on government
GERB-UDF leader Boiko Borissov, whose group will be the first to receive a mandate to seek to form a government after getting the most votes in the April 2 early parliamentary elections, broke his two days of silence to say that he would invite all parliamentary groups for talks on a government.
Borissov told a briefing on April 5 that the most stable government would include the two largest groups.
This would mean a coalition involving the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria group, but on April 4, WCC said that it would not support a government nominated on the basis of a mandate held by GERB or in which GERB is involved.
Borissov said that the sole task of the new Parliament was to produce an elected government “whatever the price for the parties, otherwise, new elections mean the same and a risk for parliamentary democracy and the republic”.
He said that the natural allies of GERB-UDF were those formations that support Ukraine and Bulgaria’s path to the Schengen visa area and the euro zone.
Borissov, who said that he would take up his seat in the 49th National Assembly and would personally lead talks with other groups. Talks on policies would be held only with those groups willing to participate in a proposed government, he said.
He said that after the elections, like in all democratic countries, if no party had enough seats to form a government on its own, there had to be a coalition.
“Therefore, we will invite, and this is a decision of the executive council of the party and our coalition partner UDF, absolutely all the parties that the voters have sent to Parliament. The most stable government would be with a coalition between the major parties. The Bulgarian voters said that it cannot be done without GERB, but it cannot be done without WCC-DB either,” Borissov said.
WCC, in its April 4 statement, said that the party’s national council had mandated the executive council to send representatives to hold policy talks with all parliamentary parties.
“We have clearly promised our voters a normal European life, which includes fair and free elections,” WCC said.
Vuzrazhdane – which will be the third-largest group in the new Parliament – was ready to talk with all parliamentary forces, but would not back down from its principles, party leader Kostadin Kostadinov said on April 5.
The fourth-largest group, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms will make every effort to see a regular government being formed by the new Parliament, party leader Mustafa Karadayi said after the April 2 elections.
Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Kornelia Ninova said on April 4 that after Parliament is convened, the BSP parliamentary group would decide whether the party would accept an invitation to participate in a ruling coalition or would be in opposition.
Please support The Sofia Globe by becoming a subscriber to our page on Patreon:
