Sofia, Jul 22 (IANS): The We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition, the second largest group in Bulgaria's National Assembly, refused the president's proposal to form a government on Monday.

The announcement was made at a ceremony where Bulgarian President Rumen Radev handed the exploratory mandate to Nikolai Denkov, the PP-DB's nominee for prime minister.

Denkov, whose parliamentary group holds 39 seats in the 240-member parliament, returned the mandate unfulfilled, stating that it was impossible to form a stable majority within the parliament.

In accordance with the Bulgarian Constitution, Radev first entrusted the task of forming a new government to the 68-seat GERB-UDF coalition on July 1. Moments after receiving the exploratory mandate, GERB-UDF proposed the structure and composition of a new government.

However, in a parliament vote on July 3, the proposal was backed by only 98 legislators, comprising those of GERB-UDF and some of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), the then-second-largest parliamentary group, Xinhua news agency reported.

Delyan Peevski, chairperson of the MRF parliamentary group, insisted on supporting the GERB-UDF government proposal. Those who voted against it were expelled, while others left on their own. As a result, the MRF group now has 22 MPs, down from the originally elected 47.

Meanwhile, the smallest parliamentary group, the Greatness party, with 13 seats, ceased to exist after six MPs left. According to the rules, a parliamentary group can only exist if it has 10 members.

According to the Constitution, Radev should hand the third exploratory mandate to one of the minor parliamentary groups. New parliamentary elections will be scheduled if no agreement on forming a government is reached again.

Bulgaria's parliamentary elections were held on June 9 after Denkov, then prime minister, resigned on March 5, and subsequent attempts to form a new government failed.