Bulgaria facing 3rd election as political stalemate continues

Sofia, Sep 7 (EFE).- Bulgarians were faced Tuesday with the prospect of a third general election since April as the Socialist Party formally abandoned its efforts to form a new government.

“Unfortunately, we are en route to new elections and new negotiations to form a government,” President Rumen Radev said after the last of the Socialists’ three allotted attempts to forge a consensus with the five other parties in Parliament ended in failure.

Once Parliament is dissolved, new elections must be held within two months, but Radev can delay the dissolution and he has said that he will keep lawmakers in session at least long enough to approve a budget.

Some analysts say Radev would also rather postpone the new parliamentary election until after the Nov. 14 first round of the presidential election for fear that an earlier ballot could hurt his bid for re-election. EFE vp-as/lv/dr