The reform party of outgoing Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, overthrown in June, announced on Friday its failure to form a new government, making it very likely that early elections will be held in the fall.
"
Unfortunately, we failed to obtain the support of 121 deputies (out of 240) around our program
", declared the Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev, co-president of the movement "
Let's continue the change
", during a press conference in Sofia.
Launch of talks
This close friend of Kiril Petkov had been in charge of the negotiations to try to break the impasse after the vote on June 22 by the Parliament of a motion of censure.
He had proposed a six-month program which was to allow the adoption of some forty laws to fight endemic corruption and reform the judicial system.
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President Roumen Radev will now relaunch talks with other parties, but the chances of success are slim according to analysts, who all consider new elections inevitable after already three in 2021. If the failure of the talks is confirmed, the leader of State must dissolve Parliament, appoint an interim government and set the date for the ballot within two months of the dissolution.
Internal tensions
Assen Vassilev said he hoped to gather "
the necessary support
" from the population to continue the fight in this Balkan country, the poorest in the European Union (EU).
Bulgaria has been plagued since the summer of 2020 by instability triggered by massive protests against former Prime Minister Boïko Borissov, then in power almost without interruption since 2009.
At the end of the third legislative elections of the year, a coalition of four parties was formed in December on the initiative of the energetic and pro-European Kiril Petkov.
But this disparate alliance ultimately did not survive internal tensions, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
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According to a poll carried out at the end of June, the next Parliament will be just as fragmented and the composition of a delicate government.
Boyko Borissov's conservative Gerb party and that of Kiril Petkov are at the top of the voting intentions.