Bulgaria’s Boyko Borissov, the former prime minister who came first in the country’s latest snap election, pledged to form a cabinet and break a deepening stalemate in the country.
Borissov, a political heavyweight who ran the country on and off for over a decade, secured a slim victory in Bulgaria’s fifth vote in two years last month. But in line with the previous contests, he fell well short of a majority, with his chief rival — former Premier Kiril Petkov — refusing to back a government led by Borissov’s Gerb party.
Borissov, who said he’ll aim for a government with limited scope to advance a list of key priorities, will have a week to muster support for a cabinet after he receives a mandate from President Rumen Radev on May 15.
“There will be a government, we’ll take the risk,” Borissov told reporters in Sofia on Tuesday, adding that a sixth election this year would be “a catastrophe.”
The turmoil has brought political uncertainty to the eastern European Union member state of 6.5 million, weighing on its budget policy and hindering plans to join the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone and the euro next year.
The stalemate has also has left much power in the hands of Radev, a former air force general who has fended off claims that he was too close to Moscow. The head of state has refused to provide military support to Ukraine.
While his post is largely ceremonial, Radev’s appointed interim cabinets have held the reins in Sofia for most of the last two years.
Borissov has urged all parties, including Petkov’s We Continue the Change, to support a government to deepen Bulgaria’s euro-Atlantic integration and to show solidarity with Ukraine.
If he fails, Petkov will receive a mandate, though his coalition also falls well short of a majority. A third attempt will go to a party of the president’s choice. If all three attempts fail to create a government, another snap vote must be called.
(Updates with comments from Borissov from first paragraph.)
