"There is Such a People" returned unfulfilled third government-forming mandate to President Radev

There is Such a People (TISP) returned an unfulfilled third exploratory mandate for forming a government to President Rumen Radev immediately after he handed it to the party on March 27.

The election of a caretaker prime minister was one of the topics that we discussed with President Radev and we expressed our opinion that the responsibility for this caretaker government, whatever it is and whoever the prime minister is to be chosen from the list (specified in the Constitution after the amendments in 2023) that the ruling assemblage (referring to the outgoing government) made, the responsibility lies with them and especially it is the responsibility of “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria”, which participated in this process, Toshko Yordanov, the chairman of the "There is Such a People" parliamentary group commented after they returned the third mandate to form a government to the President.

"They approved the names that should be given. They approved the way caretaker cabinets are chosen. Whatever happens from now on in this sphere, the fault is theirs, not anyone else's. We in the plenary chamber told them what would happen, we warned them, because GERB had made a deal with them, they let them pretend play as lawyers. The level of competence of the lawyers of WCC-DB is just that. A constitutional crisis could happen. President Radev will do everything possible to make the process as quick as possible and avoid a crisis. But whatever caretaker government emerges – the responsibility is of WCC-DB and GERB, especially of WCC-DB. They approved GERB's list," Toshko Yordanov added.

In the next parliament, TISP will seek a constitutional majority to fix the Constitution. Yordanov also expressed concern that there could be two parliaments at the same time because of the constitutional changes.

Asked what kind of elections TISP preferred, Toshko Yordanov said that on the one hand the President decides and on the other it depends on the procedure. He admitted that a 2-in-1 elections is a better option in terms of financial costs and voter turnout.

I very much hope that this election will be a purgatory for all those random politicians that happened to us in the last 9 months, said TISP Parliamentary group secretary Stanislav Balabanov.

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According to the Constitution, should no agreement on the formation of a government be reached, in consultation with the parliamentary groups and on the proposal of the candidate for caretaker Prime Minister, the President shall appoint a caretaker government and set the date for the new general elections.

Under recent changes to the Constitution, the list of potential caretaker Prime Ministers includes the Speaker of Parliament, the Governor and Vice Governors of the central bank Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), the head of the National Audit Office and his deputies, and the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman.

Deputy Ombudsman, Elena Cherneva - Markova, has resigned and her powers have been suspended as of March 27. She was one of the possible office-holders among which the President could choose the caretaker Prime Minister.