Sofia mayor to head Bulgaria's next government

Sofia mayor to head Bulgaria's next government Sofia - Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov on Thursday tasked former bodyguard, police official and now Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov with building the country's next government.

Borisov received the mandate two days after the new Parliament convened for the first time since the July 5 elections, with his GERB party holding 116 of the legislature's 240 seats. He now has a week to propose the cabinet list.

Borisov, 50, has offered three smaller conservative parties to support a GERB minority cabinet, instead of building a coalition. The far-right Ataka party has already agreed. If the other two sides accept his terms, Borisov's bloc would have 162 seats.

Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, but a year later Brussels suspended or cancelled 1 billion dollars' worth of development aid because of the embezzlement of funds.

Sweeping the outgoing Socialist Premier Sergey Stanishev's corruption-plagued authorities from power in a "clean hands" campaign, GERB made curbing corruption and restoring the confidence of European partners a priority. (dpa)