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Assen Wassilew (centre) failed for the time being
Photo: Valentina Petrova / dpa
In Bulgaria, the formation of a new pro-Western government failed due to a lack of a majority in parliament.
This means that early parliamentary elections in the EU country can no longer be ruled out.
The former Finance Minister Assen Wassilew, who was responsible for forming the government, gave back the job to Head of State Rumen Radev on Friday.
"Unfortunately, we didn't manage to get enough support together," he said.
Accordingly, four of the 121 votes required for an absolute majority were missing.
Because the PP faction has only 67 members of parliament, it is dependent on coalition partners.
Which party is tasked with forming a government?
However, until there are early parliamentary elections, two more parties will have to be commissioned to form a government in the coming weeks.
The second-largest parliamentary party, GERB, headed by ex-Prime Minister Boiko Borissov confirmed on Friday that it would return the order immediately.
It has not yet been decided which party should make the third attempt.
If this also fails, there must be a new parliamentary election – the fourth since April 2021.
At a rally in front of parliament, supporters of the PP party (»We are continuing the change«) of acting head of government Kiril Petkov demanded that a future government maintain the country's pro-European orientation and continue the fight against corruption.
When he took office at the end of 2021, Petkov's coalition cabinet set itself the goal of "zero tolerance for corruption".
Petkov's four-party government lost its parliamentary majority in June after entertainer Slavi Trifonov's populist ITN left the coalition.
This was due to differences in North Macedonia and financial policy.
The other two coalition partners – the Socialists and the conservative-liberal-green alliance DB and ITN defectors remained loyal to Petkow.
dop/dpa