Sofia, 19 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) - New elections for the parliament in Bulgaria, originally scheduled for October 20, have been postponed, President Rumen Radev announced on Monday.

The formation of an interim Cabinet, which was supposed to organize the parliamentary election, has unexpectedly failed.

Radev refused to approve the interim Cabinet proposed by the designated interim Prime Minister Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva by decree.

The bone of contention is the current Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov, who was supposed to retain his post in the new interim government. President Radev and the pro-Western liberal-conservative coalition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) accuse him of being unable to organise fair elections.

Policemen gathered at the Presidential Office and in front of police stations in several cities to defend Stoyanov.

They accused the PP-DB of wanting to dominate the Interior Ministry for party-political reasons ahead of the forthcoming election.

The failed interim Prime Minister Grancharova-Kozhareva also joined the action in Sofia. She lodged a complaint with the country's Chief prosecutor, alleging "political pressure" on her to not retain the current interior minister in the interim Cabinet she proposed.

The failure of the designated interim prime minister has deepened the political crisis in Bulgaria.

The south-eastern EU country faces its seventh parliamentary election in three and a half years but lacks an interim Cabinet to organize the election.

President Radev's scope to nominate a new interim prime minister is limited to a small circle of high-ranking officials.

Radev has now called on the parliament to decide on the relevant personnel so that he can nominate a new interim prime minister.

All the possible candidates for the position have already declined the nomination, including the current interim Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev.

The interim government, sworn in on April 9, 2024, after the failure of a pro-Western coalition Cabinet, remains in office. The appointment of a new interim government is likely to be delayed, especially as the parliament is on summer recess.

MIA file photo