Radev said he had asked Gorica Grancharova-Kozhareva, the designated acting prime minister in charge of forming a caretaker government, to consider someone else than Stoyanov as interior minister, but she refused.
“After the refusal of Mrs. Grancharova-Kozhareva to take advantage of the opportunity provided, I will not sign a decree for the appointment of the caretaker government proposed in this way, and her commitment to form it has ended,” Radev posted on Facebook.
“There will be no swearing-in in parliament tomorrow, the elections are postponed until after October 20, and the current caretaker cabinet will continue to perform its duties until a new caretaker government is formed.”
Grancharova-Kozhareva’s cabinet draft proposed to keep most current ministers in their posts, including Stoyanov, who has been interior minister since June 2023.
Accusing the reformist opposition We Continue the Change / Democratic Bulgaria alliance of coordinating with the president to sideline him, Stoyanov said on Facebook that “I will not back down at a time when an attempt is being made to take control of the system.”
Stoyanov has long been a thorn in Radev’s eye, as has Peevski, a media tycoon and one of Bulgaria’s most powerful oligarchs. Peevski is also chairman of the country’s ethnic Turkish party, the DPS.