After a string of protests against corruption, Bulgaria’s prime minister said today that his administration would step down after less than a year in office.
Reports from AFP said that Jeliazkov’s declaration came just before a vote in parliament on a no-confidence resolution against the government that the opposition had filed.
Tens of thousands of people in Bulgaria protested against the government and corruption yesterday. This was the most recent march since the end of last month.
The protests were started by a draft budget for 2026 that demonstrators said was an attempt to hide widespread wrongdoing. Last week, the administration took back the budget, but people are still angry.
After a meeting with the leaders of the ruling parties, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov told reporters, “The government resigns today.”
“People of all ages, races, and religions have spoken out in favor of resignation.” This is why we need to support and develop this civic enthusiasm.
“Crisis”
On January 1, the poorest country in the European Union will enter the eurozone. Even if the government has stepped down, this is likely to happen.
Analysts argue that poor trust in Bulgarian leaders and institutions has gotten worse because people are worried about pricing as the country gets ready to switch to the euro.
“Bulgarian society is very united against the country’s way of governing,” Dobromir Jeliazkov, head of the Market Links sociological agency, told our reporter.
He went on to say, “Trust in the Bulgarian government and parliament is still very low, which is another sign of the country’s serious political and institutional crisis.”
President Rumen Radev said last week that he supported the demonstrators and told the cabinet to step down so that early elections could be held.
Our reporter on the scene says that tens of thousands of people protested outside the parliament building in Sofia alone yesterday.
People who were protesting yelled “Resign!” and held up signs that said “I’m fed up!” with cartoon pictures of politicians on them.
Gergana Gelkova, 24, who works in a store, told our reporter that she joined the protest because corruption was “unbearable.”
She also said that most of her pals no longer resided in Bulgaria and didn’t plan to come back.
Bulgaria is one of the countries that ranks lowest on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.
After huge protests against the government of three-time prime minister Boyko Borissov in 2020, the Balkan country has had seven snap elections.
Last year, Borissov’s conservative GERB party won the most recent election. In January, they formed the current coalition government.
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