Bulgaria's GERB given a week to form government and end stalemate

FILE PHOTO: Bulgaria's President Rumen Radev attends the European Union leaders' summit in Brussels, Belgium October 20, 2022. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's largest political party, the centre-right GERB, was given seven days Monday to try to form a government to lead the country out of a prolonged political impasse amid high energy costs and looming economic slowdown.

Two months after winning the Balkan country's Oct. 2 snap election with 25.3% of the vote, GERB secured a further week from President Rumen Radev to cobble together a functioning cabinet in a hung parliament and avoid a fifth poll in less than two years.