"The National Council of the BSP will meet at the beginning of the week to decide whether to continue the efforts to form a government or to return the mandate to the President. If we see that there is no possibility of forming a government, we would return the mandate, but we would keep trying until the end." This is what the BSP leader and outgoing Deputy Prime Minister, Kornelia Ninova, said in an interview with BNR.

She added that talks are currently underway for keeping the mandate in order to have a chair of the Water and Energy Regulatory Commission elected. If no one is elected, this will lead to social issues. The commission approves the price of electricity and determines the country's energy mix.

"The goal of the three parties /BSP, We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria/ is to fight corruption and to protect the rule of law in Bulgaria. Perhaps, this is what broke the negotiations. GERB, MRF, Vazrazhdane saw that there was a chance for us to elect Boyko Rashkov for the chairman of the Commission for Anti-Corruption and Illegal Assets Forfeiture and they got scared and pulled the ITN out again," Ninova said.

• ITN walks out of negotiations to form government