Bulgaria heads for snap vote after TISP declines to form cabinet

"We think elections are the highest form of democracy. We are returning an unfulfilled mandate because this is what is right for Bulgaria. From now on, let the people decide," TISP deputy chairman Ivaylo Valchev told president Rumen Radev upon receiving the third and final exploratory mandate, as seen in a live broadcast by state broadcaster BNT.

Under the country's Constitution, the president must now appoint a caretaker cabinet and call snap general elections. A caretaker prime minister can be chosen from a list of candidates including the parliament speaker, the governor or deputy governor of the central bank, the chairman or deputy chairman of the audit chamber and the ombudsman or deputy ombudsman.

TISP was the third political formation Radev tasked with proposing a cabinet after each of the two largest political forces returned an exploratory mandate unfulfilled.

On Wednesday, Nikolay Denkov, the prime minister-designate of the coalition We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB), the runner-up in the latest general election, refused to form a cabinet upon receiving the mandate.

Earlier this week, outgoing deputy prime minister Mariya Gabriel, who was nominated for prime minister by the coalition GERB-UDF, the largest political group in parliament, withdrew her candidacy for the position and said she would not propose a list of cabinet ministers after a power-sharing deal between GERB-UDF and WCC-DB collapsed.

Bulgaria's parliament accepted earlier this month the resignation of prime minister Denkov, opening the way for a rotation of government agreed upon earlier between GERB-UDF and WCC-DB. As part of the agreement, Gabriel was set to take over from Denkov as prime minister for the next nine months.

Following the snap election held on April 2 last year, TISP holds eleven seats in the 240-seat National Assembly, while GERB-UDF and WCC-DB control 69 and 63, respectively.