site.btaGERB to Return Cabinet-Forming Mandate Unfulfilled Immediately So Elections Could Be Held Sooner - MP Dobrev

GERB-UDF will return the cabinet-forming mandate unfulfilled upon receiving it from the head of State to save time and hold elections sooner, MP Delyan Dobrev told Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday. The President is expected to hand the mandate to the biggest parliamentary group on January 12.

Dobrev said that after the elections, he expects no significant changes in Parliament unless a new political project emerges. "If there is no new player on the political scene, the elections will reproduce the same thing we have seen the last six or seven times. The parties will be the same, with one possibly having two or three more MPs and another having fewer. The parties and their intolerance towards each other will be the same. If this happens, in my opinion, no government will be formed after the upcoming elections. There may be other elections in the fall," Dobrev said.

He noted that if the President enters the political scene with his own party and heads it, then the composition of the National Assembly will change. Then perhaps there will be a greater opportunity to form a cabinet, Dobrev added. When asked whether GERB would agree to govern with a potential new party, Dobrev replied that it is not yet known whether this new project will be right-wing or left-wing, or whether it will be pro-European or pro-Russian.

When asked who would be the caretaker prime minister, the MP replied: "I am hearing more and more about [Bulgarian National Bank Deputy Governor Andrey] Gurov."