site.btaPresident to Hold Cabinet-Forming Talks with Parliamentary Forces

Bulgaria's President Iliana Iotova will hold government-forming consultations with representatives of the parliamentary groups in the 52nd National Assembly, according to the head of State's Press Secretariat.

Under the Constitution, after consultations with the parliamentary groups, the President mandates the largest group to form a government. If, within seven days the prime minister-designate of the group fails to propose a composition of the Council of Ministers, the second-largest group is given a mandate. If no Cabinet is proposed in that case either, again within seven days, a third exploratory mandate is assigned to a parliamentary group chosen by the President. Failure to form a government under the third mandate leads to snap parliamentary elections.

On Tuesday, Iotova will meet in turn with the groups of Progressive Bulgaria, GERB-UDF, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Democratic Bulgaria, Continue the Change, and Vazrazhdane.

After the consultations, Iotova will make a statement to the media.

Members of the 52nd National Assembly were sworn in on April 30. Mihaela Dotsova of Progressive Bulgaria was elected Chair of Parliament. Six parliamentary groups were formed after the Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) coalition decided to split in two.

The consultations will be held with each group separately, "as we have always done, to give everyone the opportunity to express their views on how they will work in the National Assembly going forward, how they plan to proceed with the 2026 state budget bill, whether we will have a new budget, what their legislative agenda will be, their priorities, and the projects under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan," Iotova told reporters on May 1. "I very much hope there will be common ground among the different views, because we have no time to waste," she added.