Bulgaria could be forced into new elections yet again after the victorious center-right GERB party was rebuffed by what many regarded as its last hope for coalition talks in a hung parliament days after its fourth elections in just 18 months.
The head of We Continue The Change (PP), Kiril Petkov, said on October 8 that his centrist, pro-Western electoral alliance is not interested in a coalition with Boyko Borisov and his GERB allies.
Most analysts saw PP as the only potential kingmaker for GERB after most other groups dismissed talk of cooperation with Borisov, who spent three stormy and divisive tenures as prime minister between 2009 and 2021.
Borisov and his GERB party have been the target of widespread corruption accusations, but he pledged recently to organize a "Euro-Atlantic" government with or without himself as prime minister.
Petkov served as prime minister from December to August largely on the strength of the PP's opposition to perceived corruption and other failures under Borisov's governments.
SEE ALSO: Interview: Do Bulgaria's Snap Elections Signal A Shift Away From The West And Toward The Kremlin?Petkov said his idea of a Euro-Atlantic government that supports the European Union and NATO is one "without corruption."
His PP co-leader, Asen Vasilev, said after a national party meeting this week that "we will not go to talks with GERB for the first term" but "will be a constructive opposition and will not hinder the formation of a cabinet."
Bulgarians voted in national elections in their Balkan country for the fourth time in 18 months on October 2 and gave GERB a plurality of around 25 percent, or 67 deputies in the 240-seat National Assembly, with PP placing second with just over 20 percent and 53 seats.
The southeastern EU member country of nearly 7 million people has been plagued by political gridlock since 2020 when it was rocked by nationwide protests, as public anger over years of corruption boiled over. Much of the ire was directed at Borisov and his GERB party.
The Bulgarian Rise party, a seemingly pro-Russian party that won 12 legislative seats this month, is the only party whose leader has expressed a willingness to enter coalition talks with GERB.