(Bloomberg) -- Bulgaria’s president gave a former ruling party the chance to create a new government and steer the nation out of a political crisis that may lead to the fifth elections in two years.

President Rumen Radev tapped Nikolay Denkov, a chemistry professor nominated by the We Continue the Change party, to lead coalition talks. 

Denkov will have a week to find majority support for a cabinet. But with most other parties refusing to back We Continue the Change, whose government was toppled by its coalition partners last summer just six months into its term, chances are slim. 

“The task is very complicated, some people even say it’s impossible,” Denkov told Radev in Sofia on Tuesday. But “a lot of problems have mounted, reforms have been delayed and we need a government to unite the people and to solve their problems.”

If Denkov fails to muster a majority, Radev will pick a third party of his choice to try to form a ruling coalition, and if that fails, the president will be compelled to schedule a snap election for the spring.

Even if that happens, Bulgaria’s fragmented political spectrum may still lead to a hung parliament, with no party strong enough to lead a new government. That would potentially extend an already years-long crisis that has delayed the Balkan state’s access to EU recovery funds and hindered its efforts to join the euro area next year.

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