Bulgaria’s president launches new bid to form government

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s president has asked the second-largest political party in parliament to form a government hoping to prevent the country from sliding to its fifth general elections in two years. Although the chances of the reformist We Continue the Change party’s success are slim, its prime minister-designate Nikolay Denkov vowed to try to build a working coalition. The move comes after the main group in parliament, a center-right party, failed to end the EU and NATO member’s latest political crisis amid growing economic woes and tensions with Russia. If Denkov fails to muster a majority, the president must pick a third party to try to form a government. If that fails, he will dissolve parliament and schedule an early election.