New Bulgarian President Faces First Political Test

Bulgaria's new head of state, ex-air force chief Rumen Radev, who was inaugurated on Sunday, is due to dissolve parliament on Thursday and to appoint an interim cabinet on Friday, sources told BIRN.

In his first interview after assuming office on Sunday, President Radev said he would "count on experts" for the team of the caretaker government and claimed he would act independently of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, which backed his candidacy in the presidential election in November.

"I want a really effective government which will lead Bulgaria in those indeed difficult few months left to it," he told the Bulgarian National Television, BNT.

Radev is the second head of state in Bulgaria's recent history tasked with appointing a caretaker government right after stepping into office, after Petar Stoyanov had to do the same in 1997.

He faces political turmoil after Boyko Borrissov's centre-right government resigned in November as a result of Radev's convincing victory in the presidential election against Borissov's candidate, Tsetska Tsacheva.

Radev's lack of any political background helped him win the support of nearly 60 per cent of Bulgarian voters.

But experts warn that this lack of experience might not assist him when it comes in navigating his way through Bulgaria's turbulent politics.

Asked about his lack of expertise, the President told BNT that not being over-burdened with political history was "a big plus".

"All eyes are on him [Radev] because he is an unknown face in Bulgarian politics," the Sofia-based political analyst Georgi Kiriakov told BIRN.

He called the President's vow to appoint an expert cabinet a "double-edged sword", because people may turn against him if he then appoints party-political...