SOFIA -- Bulgaria's President Rumen Radev has given a third and final mandate to form a government to the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) after two other political parties gave up efforts to set up a coalition following last month's inconclusive vote.
If the third attempt to build a majority in the fractured parliament fails, as expected, Radev will have to dissolve parliament, appoint an interim government, and call new polls within two months -- the third this year.
"We know we are facing a test as a nation. We will try everything," BSP leader Kornelia Ninova said after receiving the mandate on August 27.
SEE ALSO: Surveillance Video Puts Bulgarian Police Brutality During Anti-Government Protests In FocusThe prolonged political uncertainty could hamper the European Union's poorest member state's ability to effectively deal with a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and tap the bloc’s multibillion-euro coronavirus recovery fund.
In the July 11 elections, the BSP won 36 seats in Bulgaria's fragmented 240-member parliament -- behind the There Is Such A People (ITN) party’s 65 seats and the center-right GERB party’s 63 seats.
The GERB party of former long-serving Prime Minister Boyko Borisov returned a mandate to the president on August 20, after the antiestablishment ITN party failed to form a minority government.
Many politicians are already considering holding this year’s third parliamentary elections together with the presidential polls.
Some members of parliament have said that if a third attempt fails, as most analysts expect, general elections and the first round of a presidential vote should be held together on November 7.
An April general election also resulted in a deadlocked parliament that failed to produce a government, forcing Radev to appoint a caretaker cabinet to lead the Balkan country until the July elections were held.