Agreement reached on four-party government in Bulgaria

Sofia In Bulgaria, the new anti-corruption We Continue the Change (PP) party has formed a four-party coalition after three inconclusive parliamentary elections. PP co-chairman Kiril Petkov handed a draft government document over to President Rumen Radev on Saturday. Petkov, as the candidate of the strongest parliamentary group, had been charged with forming a new government. Parliament is expected to vote on Monday on the EU country’s first regular government since April. “Zero tolerance for corruption will be the motto of our coalition,” Prime Minister-designate Petkov affirmed. His party had won the latest election on November 14 with 25.67 per cent of the vote, but is dependent on coalition partners to govern. These are now, besides the Socialists, made up of the former Communists, which won some 10 per cent of the vote, the populist There Is Such A People (ITN) of entertainer Slavi Trifonov, which won 9.5 per cent, and the Democratic Bulgaria Alliance, which won some 6 per cent. Petkov said the proposed four-party government would last four years. (dpa)