Sofia, Jul 31 (IANS): Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has afternoon asked There Is Such a People (ITN) party, the largest political force with 65 seats in the newly elected 240-member Parliament, to form a new government.

Radev on Friday handed the exploratory mandate to Plamen Nikolov, the ITN's nominee for Prime Minister, reports Xinhua news agency.

Nikolov now has seven days to propose a government, which would have to be approved by Parliament in a simple majority vote, according to the Bulgarian Constitution.

In the snap elections held on July 11, There Is Such A People, which was founded in 2019 by Bulgarian singer and politician Slavi Trifonov, received 24.08 per cent of the votes.

Meanwhile, the coalition of the conservative-populist GERB party and the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) won 63 seats to become the second largest force in Parliament.

It was followed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) with 36 seats, the Democratic Bulgaria electoral alliance with 34 seats, and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms with 29 seats.