GERB Failed: The Bulgarian Parliament Rejected Rosen Zhelyazkov as Prime Minister

The Bulgarian Parliament has rejected Rosen Zhelyazkov's nomination for Prime Minister after more than three hours of debate. The proposed GERB government, with Zhelyazkov at the helm, was turned down.

The vote saw 98 deputies in favor, primarily from GERB and DPS. However, the DPS group was notably divided, with 14 voting against and one abstaining. Delyan Peevski commented on the outcome, noting that "there are 30 Euro-Atlantic MPs in the DPS, and they will remain DPS MPs."

A total of 138 deputies voted against the nomination, including representatives from "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB), "Revival" (Vazrazhdane), Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), "There Is Such a People" (TISP), "Greatness" (Velichie), and independent MP Kaloyan Metodiev. Two deputies chose to abstain.

Despite anticipations of potential tactics to secure a minority cabinet, the political forces refrained from employing any such maneuvers.

Speaking to journalists after the vote, Peevski said that Bulgaria had missed the chance to have a government. It was clear from his words that DPS is unlikely to try to form a cabinet with the second mandate. "Russia wins today," he concluded.

WCC-DB Co-Chairman Asen Vassilev defined the failed attempt to form a GERB government as a waste of time. "In order for a government to be approved, in such a difficult situation, it is necessary to have a preliminary discussion of a program in detail, a preliminary discussion of policies, of a legislative program, and only then can one proceed to form a Council of Ministers and seek support. This an attempt we saw, sorry, but it was just wasting of time," he pointed out.

"It is obvious that the political crisis...