Bulgarian government resigns after mass anti-corruption protests

Bulgaria’s prime minister has handed in his government’s resignation after less than a year in office after weeks of mass street protests over its economic policies and perceived failure to tackle corruption.

Rosen Zhelyazkov announced his resignation on television shortly before parliament had been due to vote on a no-confidence motion submitted by the opposition and before the country is due to join the eurozone on 1 January.

“Our coalition met, we discussed the current situation, the challenges we face and the decisions we must responsibly make,” the prime minister said. “Our desire is to be at the level that society expects. Power stems from the voice of the people.”

After a meeting of the ruling parties’ leaders, he later added: “People of all ages, ethnic backgrounds and religions have spoken out in favour of [the government’s] resignation. This civic energy must be supported and encouraged.”

Tens of thousands of Bulgarians had rallied on Wednesday evening in the capital, Sofia, and dozens of other towns and cities across the country in the latest in a series of rolling demonstrations giving vent to the public’s growing frustration.

Protesters chanted “Resign” and held up “I’m fed up!” signs featuring caricatures of politicians.

Rosen Zhelyazkov: ‘People of all ages, ethnic backgrounds and religions have spoken out in favour of [the government’s] resignation.’ Photograph: Stoyan Nenov/Reuters

Gergana Gelkova, 24, a shop worker, told Agence France-Presse she joined the protest because widespread corruption had become “intolerable”.

Students from Sofia’s universities joined the mass protest in the capital, which Bulgarian media estimated, based on drone visuals, had drawn more than 100,000 people in a country of just under 7 million.

Similar protests took place last week sparked by the government’s budget plans for tax increases, higher social security contributions and state spending hikes. The government later withdrew the draft 2026 budget.

Protesters had labelled the ill-fated budget as a veiled attempt to mask rampant corruption, which successive governments have failed to root out, and expanded their demands to include calls for the centre-right government to step down.

The country’s Moscow-friendly president, Rumen Radev, also called on the government to resign, saying on his Facebook page: “Between the voice of the people and the fear of the mafia. Listen to the public squares!”

Radev will now ask the parties in parliament to try to form a new government. If, as seems likely, they are unable to do so, he will put together an interim administration that will run the country until a new election – the eighth in four years – can be held.

The EU’s poorest country has been racked by political instability and uncertainty, with analysts saying that low trust in its national institutions and leaders had been exacerbated by fears of higher prices as Bulgaria prepares to adopt the euro.

A protester waves the Bulgarian flag at an anti-government protest in Sofia on Wednesday. Photograph: Dimitar Kyosemarliev/AFP/Getty

The European Commission has repeatedly warned against failings in the rule of law in Bulgaria, saying in a July report that the level of perceived judicial independence there was “very low” and the country’s anti-corruption strategy “limited”.

Dobromir Zhivkov, the director of the Market Links sociological agency, said Bulgarian society was “in broad unity against the model of governance”, adding that plummeting trust in ministers and MPs was “another indicator of severe political and institutional crisis”.

Bulgaria is near the bottom of the European Corruption Perception Index maintained by Transparency International. It has gone to the polls seven times since huge anti-graft protests in 2020 against Boyko Borissov, a three-time former prime minister.

Borissov’s conservative GERB party finished as the largest in the most recent election last year and formed the current coalition government in January, with Zhelyazkov, a former transport minister and senior GERB member, as premier.

Protesters are particularly angered by Delyan Peevski, a former media mogul whose DPS – New Beginning party is one of an array of several factions from across the political spectrum that backs Zhelyazkov’s minority government.

Peevski, who has been hit with sanctions by the US and the UK for alleged corruption, bribery and embezzlement, is accused of influencing government policy to favour oligarchs. He has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.