Bulgaria to hold early elections on April 2, the fifth in two years

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Archive – Bulgarian President Rumen Radev. – Gehad Hamdy/dpa

Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev announced Thursday that early parliamentary elections will be held on April 2 after the Socialist Party failed to form a government in the country, which will hold its fifth elections in just two years.

Thus, Radev has informed that the National Assembly will be dissolved as from this Friday and has officially announced the calling of these elections, with which he hopes to overcome the political impasse.

The composition of the interim government, which will include only one change with respect to the current one, is expected to be announced this week, according to the newspaper ‘Dnevnik’. The call comes after three attempts to form a government, the first one by Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), of former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, and the second one by the Bulgarian party Let’s Continue the Change, of former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. The third, the last one, was in the hands of the socialist Cornelia Ninova, who also failed to obtain the necessary support.

Thus, the current Prime Minister, Galab Donev, will remain at the head of the Executive on an interim basis until elections are held. The Minister of Culture, Velislav Minekov, will be the only one to leave office and will be replaced by Nayden Todorov.

The new elections will further extend the institutional crisis in the country and will again delay Sofia’s access to European Union recovery funds, as well as its attempts to join the euro zone.

Source: (EUROPA PRESS)