UPDATE 2 - Bulgaria's GERB-UDF, WCC-DB agree on rotation government

The rotation government will be formed on the second mandate, Mariya Gabriel, nominated for prime minister by GERB-UDF, told president Rumen Radev as she returned unfulfilled an exploratory mandate for forming a government.

For his part, Radev said that he will hand WCC-DB a mandate to form a government in the coming days.

The two coalitions hold a majority in parliament. GERB-UDF has 69 seats in the 240-seat National Assembly, whereas the WCC-DB coalition has 64 MPs.

"WCC-DB will propose a government which can carry out a Constitutional reform with a wide parliamentary and public support, fulfill all the requirements related to Bulgaria's full and active membership in the European Union, including the Schengen area and the eurozone, and implement an overall judicial reform," Democratic Bulgaria said in a Facebook post, adding that the proposed government will focus on constitutional changes related to the structure of the prosecutor's office and the Supreme Judicial Council.

The government will submit to parliament a state budget draft for 2023 envisaging up to 3% deficit, Democratic Bulgaria also said.

Nikolay Denkov of WCC-DB will serve as prime minister for the first nine months, with Gabriel as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs. In the next nine-month period, Gabriel will take over as prime minister.

At the end of each term, the prime minister will resign, allowing the two parliamentary groups to vote and support the other formation's nominee.