President Radev to mandate GERB-UDF's PM-designate to form Cabinet March 15

President Rumen Radev will present a mandate for cabinet formation to a person named by GERB-UDF, the biggest parliamentary group, on March 15, Radev's press secretariat said on Wednesday.

Nikolay Denkov tendered his Cabinet's resignation on March 5 to open up the path to the government's rotation. Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and GERB-UDF agreed that Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel would rotate as prime minister and deputy prime minister over a nine-month period in a joint declaration on June 6, 2023 when the Denkov government was voted in office.

President Radev held consultations prior to mandating GERB-UDF to form a cabinet. On Monday, he met with the first, second and third largest groups in Parliament, GERB-UDF, CC-DB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). The first two did not give any details on the progress of their negotiations over the weekend on continuing the government after the planned rotation. For its part, the MRF told the President that if the two largest groups agree on the future of the government, the Movement will continue to back them.

On Tuesday, Radev met with the three opposition groups: Vazrazhdane, the Socialists of BSP for Bulgaria, and There Is Such a People. They all told the President that a deal between GERB-UDF and CC-DB would be bad for the country and made it clear that snap elections would be the better option.