The pro-European coalition which came second in recent parliamentary elections has announced it would not support the government proposed by GERB because it had promised voters that it would not vote for ex-Premier and party leader Boyko Borissov.
The Continuing the Change-Democratic Bulgaria, cited corruption scandals involving Borissov when he was a prime minister.
“We will not support GERB because of our values. Citizens must be sure that what was promised will be fulfilled when they vote for us. We will talk to all parties about policies (not coalitions),” said the co-chair of Continuing the Change, Kiril Petkov.
“We realize that 70% of Bulgarians want an end to the political crisis and the formation of a government. We stand in solidarity with them, but we cannot support a government led by Boyko Borissov,” said Atanas Atanasov from Democratic Bulgaria.
“Much more is achieved with patience than with stubbornness,” Borissov responded on Facebook.
Borissov’s party won the April 2 election with 26.5% of the vote and offered to make a coalition with Continuing the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (24.5%) to guarantee Bulgaria’s pr-Western outlook.
Bulgaria’s Western partners are pushing for a pro-European coalition to be formed as the country is seen as the weakest link of NATO because of the strong historic and cultural Russian influence.
The pro-Russian anti-European party Vazrazhdane came third with 14.1% of the vote, a significant increase since the last elections.
If the Continuing the Change lliance sticks to its decision, GERB has no other options for forming a Euro-Atlantic majority in parliament.
Borissov’s party may try to negotiate a coalition with the ethnic Turkish minority party DPS and the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party.
These three parties became known as the “paper coalition” because they allied temporarily in the previous parliament to bring back mass voting by paper ballots, which has been associated with widespread electoral fraud.
