Bulgarian prime minister candidate Denkov presents draft Cabinet to president

By Talha Ozturk and Ihvan Radoykov

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Nikolai Denkov, one of the candidates for Bulgaria's prime minister, on Monday presented the draft Cabinet to President Rumen Radev.

Denkov is the candidate for the We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) bloc, the second largest group in the parliament.

He was given the mandate to form a government that contains a Cabinet structure of 19 ministers, one of whom is the deputy prime minister.

Denkov expressed his hope that the transition from the interim government would be calm.

Radev said that the draft Cabinet will be brought to the parliament for a vote of confidence as soon as possible.

"I hope that in the vote of confidence, the deputies will vote according to their conscience," said the president.

Radev earlier criticized the attempts by Denkov to form a government harshly as he ruled the country in a manner resembling a presidential system with the provisional governments he established for two years.

Denkov's attempts could put an end to Radev's practice.

- Persisting deadlock

In late May, the two largest alliances in Bulgaria agreed to form a coalition government in a bid to end a two-year political deadlock.

The GERB-UDF coalition and We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) bloc agreed to a government with a prime minister and deputy prime minister on a rotating basis.

According to the deal, Denkov and GERB-UDF's Mariya Gabriel will be prime minister for nine months each in the rotational coalition government.