January 24 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's newly-elected president Rumen Radev on Tuesday called early general election on March 26, following the resignation of the coalition government led by the centre-right GERB party in November, the president's press office said.
Radev signed a decree dissolving parliament on January 27, the president's press office said in a statement.
The president also appointed former parliament speaker Ognyan Gerdjikov as caretaker prime minister.
In November prime minister Boyko Borisov submitted the resignation of the coalition government composed of GERB and the right-wing Reformist Bloc following the defeat of the candidate of GERB in the presidential elections.
Radev, backed by the opposition Socialist party, won 59.37% of the vote in the second round of the presidential elections in November, way ahead of GERB's candidate, parliament speaker Tsetska Tsacheva, who won 36.16%.
Gerdjikov was parliament speaker between July 2001 and February 2005.