Bulgaria lawmakers back PM Borisov Cabinet

SOFIA, Bulgaria, July 27 (UPI) -- The Bulgarian parliament Monday elected former Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov prime minister and his center-right Cabinet to replace a socialist government.

The Borisov minority government was approved 162-78, replacing replaces the coalition government of Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, which lost parliamentary elections July 5, the Bulgarian news agency SNA said.

Borisov, 50, a former firefighter and former police chief, formed the minority government of 16 ministers from his own center-right GERB party, giving him full responsibility for promised radical reforms to contain corruption and organized crime.

In the July 5 elections, Borisov's party won 116 parliamentary deputies, five short of a majority in the 240-seat parliament. In the past three weeks, Borisov won support from the ultra-nationalist Ataka party with 21 deputies, and the two center-right groups, the Blue coalition with 15 deputies and the populist RZS party with 10 deputies, to create a 162-vote majority.