Bulgaria’s caretaker cabinet, April 19 election date announced
Bulgarian caretaker Prime Minister Andrei Gyurov announced the names of the country’s interim government on February 18, as President Iliyana Yotova confirmed that April 19 will be the date of the early parliamentary elections.
The caretaker minister are:
Prime Minister – Andrey Gyurov
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice – Andrey Yankulov
Deputy Prime Minister for European Funds – Maria Nedina
Deputy Prime Minister for Fair Elections – Stoil Tsitselkov
Minister of Finance – Georgi Klisurski
Minister of Interior – Emil Dechev
Minister of Regional Development and Public Works – Angelina Boneva
Minister of Labour and Social Policy – Hassan Ademov
Minister of Defence – Atanas Zapryanov
Minister of Foreign Affairs – Nadezhda Neynski
Minister of Education and Science – Sergey Ignatov
Minister of Health – Mihail Okoliyski
Minister of Culture – Naiden Todorov
Minister of Environment and Water – Julian Popov
Minister of Agriculture and Food – Ivan Hristanov
Minister of Transport and Communications – Korman Ismailov
Minister of Economy and Industry – Irina Shtonova
Minister of Innovation and Growth – Irena Mladenova
Minister of Energy – Traycho Traykov
Minister of E-Government – Georgi Sharkov
Minister of Tourism – Irena Georgieva
Minister of Youth and Sports – Dimitar Iliev
Gyurov, officially designated as caretaker Prime Minister by Yotova on February 12, presented the list of interim ministers to Yotova at a ceremony at the presidency, a day ahead of the seven-day deadline he had been given to do so.
The list contains a number of former elected and caretaker ministers, such as Neynski, foreign minister in the 1997-2001 Ivan Kostov government, Yulian Popov, twice before environment minister, Traykov, a former economy minister in a Boiko Borissov government and currently a Sofia district mayor. Ignatov also previously served in a caretaker cabinet in the education portfolio.
Zapryanov is a holdover from the current Zhelyazkov government, and previously also has been caretaker defence minister.
Dechev, who as caretaker interior minister will have a key role in ensuring the integrity of the elections, previously was deputy minister of justice in 2022 in the Kiril Petkov government.
Ademov was minister of labour and social policy in the 2013-14 “Oresharski” government.
Yotova said that she would decree an election date of April 19. The constitution provides that an election date of within two months is decreed once a caretaker government takes office.
The appointment of the caretaker government and the decreeing of the election date follow the December 2025 resignation of the Zhelyazkov government, against a background of massive street protests against corruption and abuse of power, and the subsequent process of handing over mandates to seek to form a government having proved fruitless.
The Gyurov caretaker cabinet will take office when it takes the oath at a ceremony in the National Assembly.
(Photo of Gyurov and Yotova: president.bg)
