Bulgaria's president calls snap parliamentary election for June 9

Bulgaria's President Rumen Radev appointed a caretaker government on Tuesday led by Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, and set June 9 as the date for snap elections, the president's office said in a statement.

The parliamentary vote is set to coincide with elections for Bulgaria's members of the European Parliament, it said.

"We must be a guarantor of stability, we cannot allow our country to be involved in a constitutional crisis, (and) ... be hostage to party ambitions and desires," Glavchev said during the government handover ceremony.

Glavchev, 60, previously served as the head of the Audit Chamber.

Bulgaria, the poorest member of the EU and one of its most corrupt states, has been rocked by political instability since anti-graft protests in 2020.

Until elections in April 2023, it was governed by a succession of caretaker governments, appointed by Radev in the absence of a stable elected coalition.

Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel failed to form a government following the resignation of Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov of the PP on March 5.

Denkov stepped down to allow the GERB to lead the government for nine months, as agreed after last year's elections. He also rejected Radev's invitation to try to form a government.

In elections last April, GERB came first, winning 69 seats in the 240-seat parliament. The bloc led by PP won 64 seats. Under the constitution, the Bulgarian parliament does not have to dissolve prior to snap elections.