SOFIA - Bulgaria's small There Is Such a People (ITN) party returned the mandate to form a government to President Rumen Radev on Monday after failing to build a stable coalition, putting the country on course for its seventh legislative election in three years.

The ITN, which came sixth in an inconclusive June 8 election with only 16 seats in the 240-seat parliament, was offered the mandate on July 29 after the centre-right GERB and the reformist We Continue the Change (PP) had failed to form a government.

"We found out that we do not have common goals ... So we give back the mandate unfulfilled," ITN's leader Toshko Iordanov told Radev.

Radev must now appoint a caretaker prime minister and has days to call snap vote, the seventh since 2021, which must happen within two months.

"The spiral of inconclusive elections continues ... and (it)not only causes irritation, but also unlocks a number of destructive processes," Radev said.

Bulgaria, the poorest member of the European Union and one of its most corrupt states, has been plagued by revolving-door governments since anti-graft protests in 2020 helped topple a coalition led by GERB.

June's election was triggered in March by the collapse of a coalition comprising GERB, which had held power for much of the previous 15 years, and the PP party.

GERB came first in the June vote, winning 68 seats, while the PP party secured 39. Both parties are broadly pro-EU and pro-market, but they are dogged by persistent bickering and personal rivalries.

Bulgaria, also a NATO member, needs a period of stable government to accelerate the flow of EU funds into its infrastructure. Sofia must also move towards joining the euro and fully participating in Europe's open-border Schengen area.

Plans to join the eurozone have already been pushed back twice because of missed inflation targets.

  - Reuters