A second Bulgarian parliament will fail to elect a legitimate government, and the country will face parliamentary elections for the third time in a year. This entanglement in political stalemate has provoked the conclusion of many analysts that the country is in a deep political crisis. Political scientist Dimitar Avramov expressed the opposite opinion in an interview with BNR. According to him, there is a lack of trust in the Bulgarian party system and "it looks like it has been hit by a severe virus":

"The biggest problem of the Bulgarian party system is the personnel and it causes constant crises in it. Many people think that there is a political crisis in Bulgaria. No, there is no political crisis in Bulgaria! The institutions are stable and society follows the agenda. The European Union, of which we are a part, is in a positive development trend. Only the Bulgarian party system produces a lack of solutions, constant scandals and bad news."

According to the analyst, the simple conclusion is that the society should produce new parties in the next 1 or 2 years, but this complex issue should not be approached destructively. "But there can be no political consensus with those parties that are incapable of building trust in themselves and with each other," Avramov added, stressing that the two largest political forces in the 46th National Assembly (GERB and ITN) act destructively from the very first day of this parliament:

"The two largest parliamentary formations are a majority in parliament, i.e. it is assumed that at least one of them must act constructively in order for electoral mathematics to work. GERB says 'no' to everything and acts destructively, but ITN says, "You will do what we want, otherwise there is no consensus," but no agreement can be reached in this way. Not everyone else can come together and reach an agreement. This always happens with either the first or the second political force. This is seen in examples from the world’s parliamentary history. "

The truth is that Bulgarian society has produced a fragmented parliament in which it is difficult to create a majority. That is why Dimitar Avramov believes that new political parties are needed, or - if this is not possible - new political leadership within the current parties. He called on current leaders to step down.

However, the course of the political game shows that until the next elections, which are likely to take place in November, there is no time to create a new political player and solve the problem of fragmentation. That is why the question of what can make the current parties with their current leaders in the next parliament find a dialogue with each other and form a regular government comes to the fore. According to Avramov, there are two ways to achieve this:

"The first is very strong public pressure. If there have been protests in Bulgaria so far to overthrow the government, I will not be surprised if there are protests in front of the next parliament to form a government. And secondly, if the EU considers that the personnel crisis in the Bulgarian party system leads to an institutional crisis and is dangerous for Bulgaria, it is very possible that Bulgarian parties will be subjected to international pressure to form a government in the next National Assembly, at least temporarily. "

Interview: Diana Yankulova

Editor: Elena Karkalanova

English version: Rositsa Petcova