Last attempt: Is there a chance for a government with the third mandate?

Is there a chance of forming a cabinet with the third mandate – the topic was commented on BNT breakfast programme, "The Day Begins", by lecturer in constitutional law, Assoc.Prof. Natalia Kiselova and political scientist, Assoc.Prof. Daniel Smilov on January 9.

"We Continue the Change" return second government-forming mandate on Monday

According to Assoc. Prof. Kiselova, elections in the second half of March or the first week of April 2023 are very likely.

"The task before the President is not whether there will be elections, but how to go to elections without serious damage to the party system, because the damages on the institutions are now serious. The question now with the President is with or without GERB. And from that it will be seen whether they will continue to be kept out of power. We saw when GERB were the leaders in the National Assembly what the consequences were - they managed to separate the Bulgarian Socialist Party from “Democratic Bulgaria” and “We Continue the Change” , now they are trying to separate “Democratic Bulgaria” from “We Continue the Change”," she said.

"The President has three choices to hand over the third mandate to - if he chooses the BSP, we are heading more rapidly towards early elections and it would be strange in the situation we are in to have a party with pro-Russian positions as a mandate holder. If he chooses "Bulgaria Ascending" he opens the door to a so-called "paper ballot coalition" plus "Bulgaria Ascending", which is enough for a majority. If he chooses "Democratic Bulgaria", it opens the questions of a possible majority around "We Continue the Change", GERB and “Democratic Bulgaria”. There is an option for a majority of GERB, “Democratic Bulgaria” and MRF, but it is unlikely," said Assoc. Prof. Smilov.

According to him, GERB and "We Continue the Change" have not made a serious attempt to form a government, but rather have tried to avoid the responsibility for early elections.

"If there was a serious will to make a government, we would already have had a budget, to move forward on the issues of the chief prosecutor. What “We Continue the Change” did is a mirror reaction to what GERB did with the first mandate - to show a good will. The story of the first two mandates is that no one wants to be blamed for early elections. The question is what will happen with the third mandate", he pointed out.

Assoc. Prof. Natalia Kiselova also sees no serious attempt to form a cabinet so far. She pointed out that the programme declaration of "We Continue the Change", which was rejected by the Parliament, contains many unrealistic elements and described it as a "wink" to the voters about which direction the party itself is turning politically - anti-corruption and anti-GERB.

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If the second largest parliamentary group fails to present a cabinet, the President assigns a mandate to a third parliamentary group. In the third attempt, the President has the right to decide to which parliamentary group to hand over the mandate, it can be any - the third political power or the smallest parliamentary group.