Politics of Bulgaria

After more than six hours of consultations, the centre-right GERB and the coalition Reformist Bloc (RB) failed to agree on forming a government.

The new National Assembly is to hold its opening session on October 27, at 14:00 EEST, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev announced.

Centre-right GERB, the biggest party in Bulgaria's new parliament, will meet the right-wing Reformist Bloc on Wednesday for consultations over formation of government.

The two biggest Bulgarian parties failed to shake hands at the consultations held in Parliament on Monday.

After the four-hour-long talks, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) took no decision to jointly participate in a coalition government.

Bulgaria should have either a center-right alliance or a grand coalition, interim Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki believes.

Bulgaria's ABV party led by former President Georgi Parvanov has said it won't take part in a government coalition with centre-right GERB party.

The differences between ABV and GERB are so big that the answer is negative, Parvanov told BNR radio broadcaster on Friday.

There is no way to form a minority government under the current circumstances in Bulgaria, conservative GERB's leader Boyko Borisov admitted, days after announcing intentions to form such a cabinet.

According to the statement of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Bulgaria's elections watchdog, lawmaker seats in the 43rd National Assembly are distributed as follows:

Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) - 84 seats

Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) - 39 seats

Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) - 38 seats

Reformist Bloc (RB) - 23 seats

President Rosen Plevneliev is to have talks with the eight parties that entered the legislature as early as October 15, or next Wednesday, Presidency sources say.

A date for the first session of Parliament is to be set during the meeting.

Bulgaria needs a coalition cabinet based on a written agreement and not the minority government that GERB proposes, a Reformist Bloc member said on Friday.

A minority cabinet, what virtually was "the one of [former PM] Plamen Oresharski," will be "unsuccessful" in times of crisis, Former Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) Chairman Martin Dimitrov told the Bulgarian National Television.