Bulgarian president asks party to form new gov't

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev here on Thursday handed former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov an exploratory mandate to form a government one month after the country's parliament elections.

Borissov, whose center-right Gerb party holds 95 seats in the 240-member parliament, has seven days to form a government and present the lineup to the National Assembly.

Earlier on Thursday, Gerb signed a coalition agreement with the third largest parliamentary group, the United Patriots, which has 27 seats.

Radev said he hoped that Gerb and its coalition partners would propose convincing candidates for ministers and told Borissov that the upcoming government must meet the pressing demands of Bulgarians, such as improved security, higher incomes and judicial reform.

"I am convinced that the experience of the past will be your good advisor," Radev told Borissov, who served twice as the country's prime minister, from 2009 to early 2013 and from late 2014 to January 2017.

Apart from Gerb and its junior coalition partner, there are three more parties in the Bulgarian parliament, namely the Bulgarian Socialist Party BSP with 80 seats, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms with 26 and Volya with 12.

For his proposed cabinet lineup to be approved, Borissov must receive approval from more than half of the legislators present in the National Assembly. Endi