Nikolai Gabrovski, elected by the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party of former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, failed on Wednesday to bring forward a coalition government in a vote held in the Bulgarian Parliament.
Thus, a total of 113 deputies voted in favor of him becoming the next prime minister of the country, but 125 voted against him after a debate that lasted for three hours.
Gabrovski, who regretted the decision, said however that «in spite of everything» he feels «satisfied for having met with people who trusted him», whom he thanked for their «professionalism», according to information from the newspaper ‘Dnevnik’.
According to the Bulgarian Constitution, the president, Rumen Radev, must hand over the mandate to the second most voted parliamentary group to elect another candidate to form the government, although experts warn about the low chances.
Radev, for his part, has pointed out that the government planned by Gabrovki «lacked responsibility and political plant». «When we look at the government and its composition, we see that there are many experts, but a political face is missing,» he said before adding that «in practice, it looks like a mediator between GERB and the citizens.» «It is not the time for mediators but for a clear political responsibility (…) Apparently, this was not a winning move», he pointed out.
The conservative GERB party won the October elections, the fourth in an 18-month period, but failed to win a majority. The party subsequently nominated Gabrovski as prime minister.
The mandate to form a government now passes to former Prime Minister Dimitri Peskov, Borisov’s main rival and leader of Continuing Change. However, Petkov, who was head of government for less than eight months, does not have the necessary support to form a government. In case of failure, Radev will allow another party to make a third attempt to form a Cabinet before calling elections again.
