SOFIA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria moved closer to another round of early parliamentary elections on Wednesday after the second-largest parliamentary group refused to attempt to form a government.
The decision was announced during a ceremony at which Bulgarian President Rumen Radev handed an exploratory mandate to Nadejda Iordanova, co-chairperson of the parliamentary group "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" (PP-DB).
Iordanova immediately returned the mandate unfulfilled, saying that within the current parliament "there is no possibility of forming a reformist majority." The PP-DB group holds 36 seats in the 240-member National Assembly.
Under the Bulgarian Constitution, the president first entrusted the mandate to the largest parliamentary force, the 66-seat GERB-UDF coalition, which declined the task on Monday. The refusal by the second-largest group has now sharply narrowed the options for forming a government.
President Radev is expected to assign the mandate to another parliamentary group in the coming days. If no agreement is reached, he must appoint a caretaker prime minister and cabinet and schedule new elections within two months.
Speaking at the ceremony, Iordanova said public protests last December showed that citizens were demanding "fair elections immediately," stressing the need for a transparent and credible electoral process.
"With this refusal, the possibilities for forming a government within this parliament have been greatly reduced," President Radev said, adding that the key issue now is ensuring the quality and fairness of the next elections. ■