{"id":371828,"date":"2024-06-21T11:03:53","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T09:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/06\/21\/bulgaria-rischio-elezioni-anticipate\/"},"modified":"2024-08-06T13:27:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T11:27:41","slug":"bulgaria-at-risk-of-total-chaos-not-even-two-weeks-after-elections-early-polls-just-a-step-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/06\/21\/bulgaria-at-risk-of-total-chaos-not-even-two-weeks-after-elections-early-polls-just-a-step-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulgaria at risk of total chaos not even two weeks after elections. Early polls just a step away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – By now, the real news in Bulgaria would be about the stability of a government, if not even its formation. It did not take place,\u00a0even after the outcome of the sixth early election in three years<\/a>\u00a0on June 9 in conjunction with the European elections, which delivered for the umpteenth time a fragmented political picture and the now well-known inability of Bulgarian parties to negotiate<\/strong> for the creation of a stable majority.<\/p>\n

\"Slavi<\/a>
Showman and founder of There is Such a People\u00a0party, Slavi Trifonov (credits: Nikolay Doychinov \/ Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The proof this time comes from the populist right-wing of There is Such a\u00a0People (ITN) – which
\nhas just joined the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)<\/a> group in the EU Parliament – and the decision of its leader, showman Slavi Trifonov<\/strong> to close the door on a government led by the conservative Gerb (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) party of former prime minister Boyko Borissov<\/strong> aiming to claim\u00a0leadership of the Sofia executive. “ITN will not support a first or second term government,\u00a0<\/strong>” Trifonov announced in a post<\/a> on Facebook Wednesday afternoon (June 19), thus ruling out support for either a Gerb-led cabinet or one taken over by the second force that emerged at the June 9 polls, the centrists of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS, part of the ALDE family of European liberals).<\/b><\/p>\n

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\"Boyko<\/a>
The leader of Bulgaria’s conservative Citizens for European Development (Gerb) party, Boyko Borissov<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Trifonov, however, does not rule out\u00a0the possible scenario of a Gerb-DPS-ITN majority – the only one possible at the moment in the National Assembly – saying that he expects the third mandate to form the government to be given by the President of the Republic, Rumen Radev, to his party<\/strong>: “We will propose an expert government to do certain and important things to the country for a fixed time. And if the mandate comes to us, I suggest that all political forces support such a government if they do not want us to go for elections in autumn,” he said, hinting at\u00a0the specter of a\u00a0seventh round of early elections in three and a half years<\/strong>. According to Bulgaria’s constitution, the President gives the first term to the largest political force in Parliament.\u00a0If that fails, he must hand\u00a0the second term to the second largest force, and if that also fails, he can personally decide to which party to hand over the last attempt, regardless of the number of deputies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the June 9 elections, ITN won only 5.96 percent of the vote and came in sixth place. However, its 16 elected<\/a>\u00a0members of parliament are decisive for the Gerb and DPS understanding in giving light\u00a0to a majority (together, they stop at 115 seats, six short of the minimum threshold). So far, the Gerb leader and former Prime Minister Borissov always rejected the idea of ceding the government (he too is threatening to return to early elections). However,\u00a0yesterday’s (June 20) political developments in the National Assembly show\u00a0there may still be room for dialogue. Despite the halt to the formation of the Gerb-led government,\u00a0ITN populists endorsed the Conservatives’ candidate for the Speaker of Parliament, Raya Nazaryan, thus avoiding an initial crisis in the possible new majority. “Nazaryan’s election gives the green light to constitutional procedures.\u00a0We are focusing on the first term, which is the only possible one,” Borissov said, not helping to diminish the risk of yet another return to the polls.<\/p>\n