Bulgarian lawmakers approve government resignation, snap election looks likely

Dec 12 (Reuters) - ‌Bulgarian lawmakers formally approved on Friday the resignation of ‍the country's ‌minority government, a day after it bowed to mass street protests ⁠and said it would quit, ‌paving the way for talks on forming a new coalition or most likely a snap election.

Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyakov's government announced on Thursday it would ⁠step down after weeks of street protests against state corruption and a new budget ​that would have hiked social security contributions and ‌taxes on dividends.

The decision comes ⁠just three weeks before the Black Sea nation of 6.7 million people is due to join the euro zone on January ​1.

All 227 lawmakers attending Friday's session of the 240-member chamber voted in favour of the government's resignation.

They are also expected later on Friday to approve a revised 2026 budget on its first ​reading.

President Rumen ‍Radev, who himself had ​urged the government to resign, will now hand the largest party in parliament, GERB, the mandate to form a new government. However its leader, Boyko Borissov, has indicated it will turn down the mandate.

In such a scenario, unless two other parties accept the mandate to ⁠form a government, Radev will appoint an interim administration and call a snap election. This could ​pitch Bulgaria back into a cycle of repeated polls if no one can form a functioning coalition.

Bulgaria, a member of NATO and the European Union, has held seven national ‌elections in the past four years as successive governments failed to keep control of a fractured parliament.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-SucicEditing by Gareth Jones)