Bulgaria: Parliament rejects proposed technocrat government

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s parliament has failed to elect a government proposed by the center-right GERB party to resolve a political impasse that has gripped the European Union’s poorest member country. Prime Minister-designate and neurosurgeon Nikolay Gabrovski had proposed a technocratic Cabinet. But he failed on Wednesday to secure a majority in the 240-seat National Assembly, where 113 legislators voted for his proposed government and 125 rejected it. According to the Bulgarian Constitution, the country’s president must hand the mandate to the second-largest group in parliament, the We Continue the Change party led by former Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, and if it also fails, to a third party.