President of Bulgaria Roman Radev (Photo: Alexandros Michaelidis/Shutterstock)
Fifth elections – not only in Israel: Bulgarian President Roman Radev announced this evening (Tuesday) the dissolution of the local parliament and the holding of new elections on April 2, this after no one was able to form a government since the elections held in the country last October. It was also said that the Prime Minister of the Transitional Government Galev Donav will remain in his post until after the elections.
This is the fifth time Bulgarian citizens have gone to the polls in the last two years. For 3 consecutive elections, no party won a majority of the 240 seats in the parliament, until in November 2021 the “We continue the change” party managed to form a new coalition of 128 members of parliament, led by Kirill Petkov. However, last July the ITN party withdrew from the coalition leaving it in the minority, and two weeks later the government was overthrown in a motion of no confidence.
The overthrow of the outgoing government came against a background of controversy and widespread public criticism, this in light of rising inflation in Bulgaria and the extensive effects of the war in Ukraine on the country. While Petkov called for an aggressive policy against Russia following the invasion, many of his coalition partners preferred to maintain a more neutral policy due to the country’s dependence on Russian gas. In addition, the coalition parties differed regarding the plan to adopt the euro as the country’s official currency starting in 2024.
The fourth election was held on October 2, when Petkov’s party fell to 53 seats while the “GERB-SDS” party became the largest party in the parliament. Despite the calls to form a unity government, the mandate to form the government was given to 3 different candidates – when all of them failed to form a new government. As mentioned, tonight the president of the country decided to dissolve the parliament and hold new elections.
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