Bulgarians demand govt’s resignation over inability to tackle corruption

Thousands of citizens protested in Bulgaria on Wednesday night against the country’s minority government and the alleged failure to tackle endemic corruption in the country.

The protests in the capital Sofia and dozens of other towns and cities across the Black Sea nation are the latest in a series of rolling demonstrations and come as Bulgaria prepares to adopt the euro on January 1, 2025.

Protesters used lasers to project the words “Resignation”, “Mafia Out”, and “For Fair Elections” on the parliament building in central Sofia.

A 64-year-old resident of Sofia, Dobri Lakov, said: “I think the energy of the people will gradually force them (the government) to step down because many reforms are needed.

“First and foremost, judicial reform. If the judicial system is fixed, everything else will fall into place, absolutely everything.”

Bulgaria’s parliament is expected to hold a vote of no-confidence on Thursday in the government of Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, the sixth such vote since it took power on January 15, 2025.

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Last week, the government withdrew its 2026 budget plan, the first drafted in euros, due to the mass protests.

Opposition parties and other organisations said they were protesting against plans to hike social security contributions and taxes on dividends to finance higher state spending.

Despite the government’s retreat over the budget plan, the protests have continued unabated in a country which has held seven national elections in the past four years – most recently in October 2024 – amid deep political and social divisions.

“It is finally time for normality to come to Bulgaria and for us to free ourselves from the oligarchy, the mafia, and the forces that represent them,” an IT specialist, Angelin Bahchevanov, told Reuters.

The Star