Second day of President’s consultations on forming a government: The three parties in opposition insist on early elections

The consultations with President Rumen Radev ahead of handing over the first mandate for forming a government have ended. He asked all parliamentary parties whether they were ready with a formula for the implementation of a third mandate.

On March 12, the President had his second day of consultations with representatives of the parliamentary groups. He met with the three opposition groups: Vazrazhdane, the Bulgarian Socialst Pary and "There Is Such a People".

"Vazrazhdane" firmly noted that "they have always been ready with an option for governing the country" and demanded early elections. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) was firm in its belief that "this government and majority are harmful to the country and the agony can only be ended by early elections." According to “There is Such a People”, the very "conception of this government was flawed". And they demanded early elections.

What the opposition parties said during and after the consultations:

During the consultations:

The leader of “Vazrazhdane” party stressed that the current political model is killing the country.

"This political status quo, this political model - oligarchic-ambassadorial - is not only harmful for the state, it is killing the state, that is why elections are necessary," the leader of "Vazrazhdane" was adamant.

He sees a way out of the crisis in a total change of the model. He described the expectation of a similar configuration if early elections were held as absurd.

If this is the way we think, we should postpone the elections because what is the point if the result is a similar (configuration of parties). Elections are not a raffle. This is absurd," Kostadinov was adamant.

Kostadin Kostadinov accused President Rumen Radev of being to blame for the current situation in the country.

"You are to blame because last year the greatest impulse of the Bulgarians was severely trampled, the Constitution was trampled. The Constitutional Court also trampled over the Constitution, about the referendum against the euro changeover, and you should have stood up for the Bulgarian people," he said.

Rumen Radev countered that this was "absolutely untrue" and called for a more moderate tone.

"I am guided only by the Constitution. Without a decision of the Parliament, I cannot sign a decree to hold a referendum. It is high time to put an end to these speculations," Rumen Radev addressed Kostadinov.

After the consultations:

The leader of "Vazrazhdane" said there was no tension during the consultations with the President.

"There is no tension, we said what hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian citizens think, that a referendum should be called, it did not happen. We argued mainly about the referendum, he agreed with us on the other things. We did not talk about a third mandate," he said.

According to Kostadinov, "a successful rotation means an unsuccessful development for Bulgaria" and concluded by saying that in its current version the Bulgarian government poses a threat to national security.

Bulgarian Socilaist Party (BSP)

During the consultations:

BSP leader, Kornelia Ninova, said that their position has been clear and unequivocal since the first day of the formation of the government. “The agony in which Bulgaria was dragged can only be ended with early elections,” Ninova said and described the government as harmful for the country. She argued what she said with the following:

• the government was created in sin
• instead of fighting against the mafia, the government chose the mafia and the backstage
• corruption is written down into law
• the priorities have not been implemented
• Schengen by air and water is humiliating for the country
• The eurozone is moving away as an opportunity
• the Resilience Plan has not been revised
• inflation is not reduced

Kornelia Ninova: The situation in Bulgaria can change only with early elections

According to the BSP leader, the government has "transferred power to the Parliament, but has killed parliamentarism."

"If this continues for another 9 months, it means even more uncertainty and instability, because their only goal is to distribute the regulators, to control the judiciary, but this guarantees uncertainty and instability for Bulgaria and the mafia and the backstage taking the biggest positions and being formalised."

After the consultations

"We talked about options within this Parliament, with other mandates and another majority. We will not participate in such an option. This ruling majority is exhausted," Kornelia Ninova said on her way out of the Presidency after consultations on forming a new government with Head of State Rumen Radev.

According to Ninova, early parliamentary elections are inevitable.

"We are going to early elections because they cannot agree on how to partition the state. We watched the consultations yesterday - we understood that GERB wanted more time and we did not see confidence in “We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria” to have come to an agreement," she said.

In her words, if it comes to early elections "BSP for Bulgaria" will participate in them and will enter the Parliament.

There is Such a People

During the consultations

"This Parliament makes no sense and it is best to go to early elections," Toshko Yordanov, chairman of the "There is Such a People" group, told President Rumen Radev.

"This Parliament has been exhausted since the moment the government was formed this way – between two political formations with the support of a third, who lied to their voters. The very conception of this government was flawed."

Keeping track of the negotiations between the current "non-aligned partners" is difficult because they take place behind closed doors, the MP said.

"These are not open and honest negotiations, but some backstage bargaining over posts, money and regulators."

There is no law that has not been changed four or five times, Yordanov added, describing the constitutional changes as harmful.

"Some of them were made only because of you," he addressed the President.

"Bulgaria should be governed by an expert government with broad parliamentary support and each party should be responsible for the experts it has nominated," Toshko Yordanov said.

Such a formula, he said, could be implemented in the next parliament.

After the consultations

"In our view, this Parliament has run out of moral credit and the right thing to do is to have elections - immediately." This is what the representatives of "There is Such a People" commented after the consultations.

"The right approach is a cabinet of experts with broad support, but not in this parliament. If they don't reassemble, it's best to go through elections, for people to re-align the weight of the parties. Then a governing formula can be sought," said Toshko Yordanov, chairman of TISP Parliamentary Group.

Yordanov predicts a new rise in electricity and fuel prices and party control over independent regulators if a government is formed. He accused Finance Minister Assen Vassilev of lying about the economic state of the country.

"When they fall apart, say in nine months or after the US elections, we will have to fix an extremely bogged down country," he said.

Asked what they and the President had talked about, MP Philip Stanev said:

"We discussed a lot of topics. Both sides were interested to hear the analysis of what is happening at the moment in the political life, the repercussions for Bulgaria beyond the borders of our country and how Europe possibly views what is happening."

The meeting with TISP representatives marks the end of President Rumen Radev's political consultations with the parliamentary parties, before the head of state hands over the first exploratory mandate to form a government.

Images by BTA, BGNES

President held consultations with parliamentary groups on forming a government