Bulgarian President Rumen Radev called a snap election to be held on October 2 — the country’s fourth parliamentary vote within two years — after the collapse of the government under Kiril Petkov in June.
Radev also on Monday appointed Galab Donev, a former labor minister, to lead a caretaker government until a new administration is formed. The president said he will present the tasks and priorities of the caretaker Cabinet on Tuesday.
Petkov came into office less than eight months ago, promising to fight the country’s rampant corruption, and took an unusually strong line against Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. But his government lost a vote of confidence after one of the parties in the fragile four-party coalition abruptly pulled the plug. No political group was able to secure a majority to govern thereafter, prompting Radev’s announcement Monday.
The snap election could produce another fractured parliament, with Petkov’s We Continue the Change (PP) currently polling close to the center-right GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.
