July 27 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), a member of the outgoing ruling coalition, on Thursday will return unfulfilled the mandate to try to put together a new government within the current parliament, party leader Kornelia Ninova said on Wednesday.
Under the country's Constitution, president Rumen Radev will have to dissolve parliament and set the date for early general elections, as BSP was the third and last political formation he had tasked with forming a cabinet.
"I have done everything within my powers. From here on, the responsibility lies with the president," Ninova said in a Facebook post.
Earlier in July, two other political formations failed to put together a government to succeed the four-party coalition cabinet which collapsed in late June.
Opposition GERB-UDF, the second biggest political force in parliament led by former prime minister Boyko Borissov, returned an exploratory mandate to form a new government as soon as receiving it.
Earlier this month, PM-designate Assen Vassilev, nominated by We Continue the Change (WCC) party - the biggest formation in parliament, also returned the mandate to the president, citing the party's inability to garner support from at least 121 members of the 240-seat National Assembly.
In late June, Bulgaria's six-month old coalition cabinet resigned after losing a no-confidence motion filed by GERB. The cabinet comprised WCC, led by prime minister Kiril Petkov, the BSP and the anti-status quo, pro-reform Democratic Bulgaria coalition. There Is Such a People (TISP) left the coalition earlier in June.
The coalition cabinet was formed after snap elections in November, the country's third vote for parliament in 2021.