Bulgaria's president to convene parliament on July 21
Bulgaria's president Rumen Radev will convene on July 21 the newly-elected parliament following Sunday's snap general vote won by populist formation There Is Such a People (TISP), the head of state said on Friday.
"There is a clear constitutional model and we will follow it," Radev said, as seen in a video file on the website of the Bulgarian National Television.
Six parties crossed the 4% threshold for entry into parliament.
TISP won 24.1% of the votes, giving it 65 MPs in the 240-seat National Assembly. The centre-right coalition of GERB and the Union of Democratic Forces came in second with 23.5% support and will have 63 representatives in parliament, followed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party with 13.4% backing and 36 MPs. Anti-status quo, pro-reform Democratic Bulgaria, was backed by 12.6% of voters and will have 34 MPs, while the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which traditionally is drawing support mainly among Bulgarian ethnic Turks and Muslims, secured 29 seats on the back of 10.7% voter support. Rise Up, Thugs Out! political formation led by ex-ombudsman Maya Manolova won 5.01% of the votes and will have 13 MPs.
According to the Constitution, the president should now hand a mandate to form government to a candidate proposed by TISP. If the election winner fails to propose a government that will be backed by at least 121 of 240 members of parliament, the president should hand the mandate to a candidate proposed by the second-largest parliamentary group. If that candidate also fails to propose a cabinet that would be backed by a parliamentary majority, the president is required to hand the mandate to a representative of any of the remaining political formations in parliament.
If no government is formed after that round, the president appoints a new caretaker government and calls new elections.
In May, Radev dissolved parliament and called earlysnap elections for July 11, after none of the three biggest political formations that entered the National Assembly after the inconclusive regular vote in April - GERB-UDF, TISP and the Socialists - succeded in assembling a government coalition. A total of six political parties entered parliament after the April vote.