SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s president dissolved the National Assembly on Thursday and called early parliamentary elections for April 2 in hopes of resolving the country’s attempt to resolve longstanding political stalemate and members’ acute economic woes. of the European Union and NATO.
President Rumen Radevon also appointed an interim government ahead of the early vote, which will be the fifth in Bulgaria in two years.
Radev reappointed Galab Donev, a 55-year-old independent politician, to head the interim cabinet until the next parliament elects members of a regular government.
The move comes after the three main political groups in the deeply fragmented National Assembly failed to find common ground for a viable coalition government after the latest snap elections, held in October.
Former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s center-right GERB party won 67 seats, the most of any party, but well short of a majority in the 240-seat parliament. Other parties refused to form an alliance with the GERB due to allegations of corruption and the party’s alleged failure to implement reforms while in power.
The liberal party Seguimos el Cambio and the Socialists did not find enough support to lead a government.
Bulgaria is a member of the European Union and NATO. The ongoing political crisis is expected to curb the country’s plans to join the euro zone by the end of 2023 and become a member of Europe’s passport-free travel zone, the Schengen Area.
Analysts believe that the war in Ukraine, inflation and a widening gap between the pro-Russian and pro-European camps could lead more Bulgarians to vote for nationalist parties.
