President Rumen Radev handed the mandate for forming a government to the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, which will now have to nominate a prime minister. This is the third and last chance for the formation of a government within the 48^th National Assembly of Bulgaria.

“In these times of political confrontation, the BSP has been able to preserve the dialogue, demonstrating that it is capable of making compromises and entering into negotiations and coalitions, of governing together with their political opponents,” President Radev said.

“Thank you for the trust, we understand the gravity of the situation, we shall do everything we can so there can be a regular government.  It is going to be difficult though not impossible,” BSP leader Kornelia Ninova responded.

In front of the Presidency building, she stated that they will ask the BSP National Council for a mandate to hold negotiations with all parties, and to invite them to a leaders’ meeting. If they see there is no agreement at this meeting, then they will return the mandate unfulfilled.

“We shall invite all parties and leaders to look for the things that bring us together – inflation, prices, incomes, the recovery and resilience plan. There are things that need to be done urgently, instead of dividing us,” Kornelia Ninova said.