site.btaUPDATED Bulgarian PM Declines to Speculate on Next Caretaker Prime Minister

Bulgaria’s outgoing Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov Tuesday declined to speculate on who could be appointed as caretaker prime minister and stressing that the decision rests solely with the president. Speaking to journalists in Veliko Tarnovo, Zhelyazkov said there has so far been no express refusal from any of the potential candidates for the post. As a result, any forecast could only be based on precedents from similar situations in the past, he added.

Earlier on Friday, President Rumen Radev offered the third - and last - exploratory mandate for forming a government to the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms, and they immediately returned it, meaning that the country is headed to formation of a caretaker cabinet and snap elections. 

“Let the president hold meetings with the candidates, hear their motivations, and make his assessment. The decision is entirely his,” Zhelyazkov said.

The outgoing prime minister also underlined that both the Central Election Commission and the caretaker government must work toward ensuring fair and transparent elections.

Zhelyazkov was in Veliko Tarnovo together with outgoing Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov to inspect progress on a state-funded programme for the thermal renovation of multi-family residential buildings in the city.

The potential caretaker PMs

Under the Constitution, the pool of potential caretaker prime ministers from which the President may choose is limited to the Chairperson of the National Assembly (Raya Nazaryan), the Governor or Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank (Dimitar Radev, Petar Chobanov, Andrey Gurov and Radoslav Milenkov), the President or a Vice-President of the National Audit Office (Dimitar Glavchev, Margarita Nikolova and Silvia Kadreva) and the National Ombudsman (Velislava Delcheva) or a Deputy Ombudsman (Maria Filipova).