GERB Leader Demands Snap Elections in mid-September

Boyko Borisov, leader of center-right party GERB, has ruled out the opportunity of a new government under the 42nd National Assembly.

Speaking Tuesday at an extraordinary press conference, Borisov called on the ruling parties to schedule elections for a new Parliament in mid-September.

He was adamant that the GERB party (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) would not take part in political consultations with the other formations represented in Parliament.

Borisov, as cited by Sega daily, rejected allegations of plans to form an expert government under the 42nd National Assembly, stressing that GERB would not form a Cabinet with the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms party (DPS).

He insisted that BSP, DPS and nationalist party Ataka had brutally breached the agreement reached by the political parties during the Thursday meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security (KSNS).

Borisov accused the ruling parties of failing to focus efforts on ensuring a smooth transition in a tough situation and scheduling early elections, adding that the political formations had chosen to engage in the approval of the Interior Ministry Act, the UN Secretary-General nomination, the appointment of new ministers and the removal and appointment of deputy ministers, and the signing of energy contracts for 20 years on.

Asked about the date of the early elections, he said that the parties which had taken part in Thursday's sitting of KSNS had discussed the scenario of early elections in the period October 5-12.

Borisov declared, however, that the catastrophe which Bulgaria had experienced over the past few days had made it imperative to hold early elections in mid-September "and...