Political consultations on the formation of a new Cabinet will start today, June 28. Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leaders are to discuss policies on co-operation and negotiations with most parties eligible to enter Parliament. The political council of Coalition for Bulgaria, the group that won the largest share of votes and that is dominated by the BSP, will give the BSP the full authority to hold political consultations, reported Bulgaria's Focus news agency.
At the same time, the centre-right Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) will meet other rightist political formations, including the Bulgarian People's Union and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB). DSB members said that only co-operation between the three parties could stop the BSP from forming a Cabinet and from giving Simeon Saxe-Coburg a second term as Prime Minister.
Democratic Party member Alexander Pramatarski said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio that it was too early to talk about a right-wing coalition. The differences between the three formations needed to be overcome gradually, Pramatarski said.
The UDF is experiencing internal problems at the same time. UDF member and former president Petar Stoyanov has called for the resignation of current party leader Nadezhda Mihailova because of the low support that the UDF received.
Mihailova said such moves would only destabilise the right l wing and would limit chances of forming a coalition. At a UDF meeting yesterday, Mihailova said she would consider the resignation request after a national conference of the democratic parties. This conference is likely to take place in September or October. Several UDF members, including Pleven mayor Naiden Zelenogorski, have declined to become Members of Parliament, BGNES agency reported.
Before consultations started, the Coalition for Bulgaria caused controversy by questioning the results of the election. The coalition might lodge an appeal in court if electoral procedures are not examined, BSP member Roumen Ovcharov said in an interview with bTV. He told Bulgarian National Television that the D'ondt system currently in use to calculate election results, redistributes votes and in this way distorts the results.
Despite BSP's majority victory in Sofia, the D'ondt system permits them to have only half of the predetermined seats. The system is likely to produce distortions, if a larger number of parties enter Parliament.
There have been problems with seat distribution in larger cities like Plovdiv, Varna and Bourgas. Ovcharov told Bulgarian National Radio that the procedures were in violation of the constitution. The Central Electoral Commission will check the distortions produced by D'ondt. If necessary, BSP is ready to approach the Constitutional Court, Ovcharov said.