Five officials tell President Yotova they are willing to be Bulgaria’s caretaker Prime Minister

Five of the office-bearers out of the 10 on the list from which a head of state must choose a caretaker Prime Minister have told President Iliyana Yotova that they are willing to accept appointment to the post.

This emerged on January 30 at the conclusion of three days of consultations held by Yotova.

The five are central Bulgarian National Bank deputy governor Andrei Gyurov, Deputy Ombudsman Maria Filipova, Audit Office head Dimitar Glavchev (twice before caretaker Prime Minister) and Audit Office deputy heads Maria Nikolova and Silvia Kadreva.

When Yotova decides on her choice, she will mandate the caretaker Prime Minister-designate to propose an interim government, with a deadline of seven days to do so.

The constitution gives the president the option of naming the caretaker Prime Minister-designate and then holding consultations with parliamentary groups, or first holding consultations with parliamentary groups and then naming the caretaker PM-designate.

The constitution also requires the head of state, on decreeing the caretaker government, to also set a date for early parliamentary elections, to be held within two months.

The task of appointing a caretaker government and decreeing an election date fell to Yotova after Roumen Radev resigned as president, a step that led to the former vice president becoming head of state on January 23.