Bulgaria to hold early elections on April 2-president

SOFIA – Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Tuesday said he would set April 2 as the date for the country’s fifth parliamentary election within two years after inconclusive October polls failed to produce a working government.

Radev said he would dissolve parliament on February 3 and expressed hope lawmakers would use the time until then to approve legislation needed to ensure European Union aid funds were tapped efficiently.

Radev has said earlier he would re-appoint current interim prime minister Galab Donev to lead the country until a new government is formed after the snap polls.