Bulgaria's Biggest Party Divided over Nationalist-Led Cabinet

The prospect of forming a nationalist-led cabinet within the current Parliament has divided opinions in Bulgaria, with the biggest party itself split over the move.

Outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Tuesday indicated, during a national security council at the Presidency, that he may support a government of either the Patriotic Front or the Reformist Bloc if any of the coalitions is handed the probe mandate.

President Plevneliev is due to hand the mandate to Borisov's GERB party and then to opposition BSP, but both will return it without trying to set up a new government.

He hinted at the possible choice of the Patriotic Front, a nationalist coalition that backed the outgoing minority government, as the third party to seek a new cabinet. If no party fails to produce a new cabinet then, the country will have an interim government and an early election will be held in the spring.

"I am ready to be Prime Minister," Krasimir Karakachanov, the PF's co-leader and a presidential candidate who came third in the election early this month, said on Monday.

Dimitar Bayraktarov, a lawmaker with the PF, told the Bulgarian National Radio on Wednesday his bloc would seek to work with experts for a comprehensive government. All parties with the exception of the two ethic Turk-dominated ones, the DPS and DOST, will be invited for talks.

Valentin Radev, serving as MP from GERB's faction, told private bTV station his party would back the PF so long as the latter could produce a "sustainable program" to lead Bulgaria through the political crisis. He argued it was not clear whether ministers from the current cabinet would take part in a PF-led government as well. "Nothing is for sure, this is politics," he said.