September 7 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria will hold new parliamentary elections, its third so far this year, after Socialist party leader Kornelia Ninova said on Tuesday she is returning an exploratory mandate for forming a government.
"We did not get support from There Is Such People(TISP), Democratic Bulgaria and Rise up! We're coming! Thus, I am returning the mandate unfulfilled, " Ninova told president Rumen Radev, as seen in a video file posted on the website of public television BNT.
The Socialist party, which came third in the July snap elections, was the third political formation which Radev asked to propose a cabinet, after each of the two biggest political forces in parliament returned a government-formation mandate after failing to secure sufficient support in parliament.
TISP holds 65 of 240 seats in the National Assembly, GERB-UDF has 63, BSP has 36, Democratic Bulgaria has 34, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms has 29 and Rise Up! We're Coming has 13.
Radev is now expected to set the date for the parliamentary elections.
Bulgaria will vote for president on November 14.
Earlier this year, Radev said that he would run for a second five-year term of office.