Nikolai Gabrovski, chosen by the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party of former Prime Minister Boiko Borisov to form a new government after the elections, presented on Monday to President Rumen Radev a new government that preserves the structure of the Cabinet of former President Kiril Petkov and that presumably will not have the necessary support to succeed.
After receiving the mandate to form a government, the new Cabinet is expected to be submitted to a vote in the National Assembly on Wednesday, although everything suggests that the configuration chosen could intensify the differences between the parties and lead the country to new early elections.
The conservative GERB party won the October elections, the fourth in an 18-month period, but failed to win a majority. The party subsequently nominated Gabrovski as prime minister.
The Bulgarian politician has now shaped a government composed of technocrats who are not affiliated with parties represented in Congress, although most parties have refused to cooperate with GERB, reducing the chances of the new government emerging victorious from the vote in the House.
If elected, Gabrovski has assured that he will «work effectively and without wasting time to address the main crises» facing the country, especially the approval of budgets and the possibility of joining the Schengen area.
In case this new government does not succeed, the mandate will pass to Petkov, Borisov’s main rival and leader of Continuing the Change, according to information from the newspaper ‘Dnevnik’.
However, Petkov, who was head of government for less than eight months, does not have the necessary support to form a majority government. In case of failure, Radev will allow another party to try to form a third Cabinet before calling elections again.
Confidence in the Bulgarian Parliament has fallen sharply, with approval figures as low as 9 percent, according to the latest polls by the Tren Research Center in Sofia. GERB has the strong support of at least 26 percent of voters, putting it 7 percentage points ahead of Petkov’s party.
