Bulgaria president dissolves parliament, sets July poll

SOFIA (AFP/APP): Bulgaria’s president dissolved parliament on Tuesday and called a new general election for July 11, after a vote last month failed to produce a government coalition.

Long-time conservative premier Boyko Borisov’s party came first in the April 4 poll, but in a badly fragmented legislature it failed to find partners to govern.

It was the first time in the Balkan country’s post-communist history that no parties were able to reach a compromise to form a cabinet.

Borisov’s GERB party scored 27 percent of the vote last month, giving it 75 seats in the 240-seat legislature.

The election followed massive anti-government protests last year that accused Borisov, who has ruled the EU member state virtually uninterrupted for almost a decade, of favouring and protecting oligarchs.

The new anti-establishment party founded by showman-turned-politician Slavi Trifonov was second, while the main opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party came third.

Both refused presidential mandates to form a cabinet, leaving President Rumen Radev — a vehement Borisov critic — no other option but to call a fresh election.