While Bulgaria’s parliament was debating a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on July 20, protesters who have taken to the streets nightly for almost two weeks decided to start daily blockades of the parliament and plan to stage various forms of civil disobedience in an attempt to push Borissov and chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev to resign.

Tens of thousands of Bulgarians say they are disgusted by the widespread corruption and want a restart of the democratic system in the EU’s poorest and most corrupt country. As the protests evolve, they are also demanding the resignation of Emil Koshlukov, the director of public broadcaster BNT, saying he has made it completely dependent on the government.

During the day, people supporting the protest occupied the parliament, while others occupied major roads, public buildings and courthouses for short periods. A group of protesters stopped one of the Sofia metro lines as part of the civil disobedience.

In an attempt to appease protesters, several days ago Borissov asked for the resignations of three key ministers due to their alleged connections to the ethnic-Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) — a demand that was later withdrawn. For their part, the ministers seem unwilling to resign. One of them, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, said on July 20 he has no reason to resign after he achieved the most significant success for Bulgaria – entry into the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which is a significant milestone on the road to euro adoption. 

The DPS, which is formally in opposition, has become a symbol of corruption since in 2009 its chairman of honour Ahmed Dogan said during an election campaign he was the person “distributing the portions of financing in the country”. Dogan has openly admitted he has been behind all major political appointments in the country. The party’s MPs include businessman Delyan Peevski, who has been accused of gaining billions through corrupt deals.

Economy Minister Emil Karanikolov, whose resignation was also demanded, said he was ready to take political responsibility but said he would oppose the resignations of Goranov and Interior Minister Mladen Marinov.

The refusal of the ministers to file their resignations was seen by many analysts as proof that Borissov is completely dependent on the DPS and that he is not the one who is in charge of the government’s decision, only a puppet in the hands of Dogan and Peevski.

Hristo Ivanov, one of the leaders of the non-parliamentary opposition Democratic Bulgaria, commented that the situation reminds him of November 10, 1989 when the then communist dictator Todor Zhivkov was ousted by his fellow party members, which marked the fall of communism in the country.

“I start having the feeling that we are witnessing a new November 10. After missing the moment to file a resignation and go to election, asking his voters for a new mandate, Borissov is finally turning into a dummy of Peevski. His political decisions are losing value, he is falling into an increasing lack of adequacy,” Ivanov wrote on Facebook.

He added that Borissov seems to be hoping to contain the damage by replacing ministers but this would instead lead to a complete loss of control on the part of the government.

“He thinks that he would get the role of chairman of honour and does not realise that soon his main usefulness for Peevski would be as a subject of yet another media action of the prosecution, attempting to legitimise Geshev,” Ivanov also wrote.

At the same time, local media reported that Borissov seems to have ceded ground in the talks at the ongoing meeting of EU leaders as he was unable to negotiate the desired sum to help the country recover from the coronacrisis.

The protests, which have lasted for 12 days now, were sparked by an attempt by Ivanov to get to the state-owned beach near Dogan’s summer villa earlier in July. Ivanov published a video showing that he was pushed into the water by guards from the state security services. Dogan was not entitled to be guarded by them as he does not hold any public post. Moreover, the state-owned beach should be accessible for everyone.

After the video was released, President Rumen Radev was the first to confirm Dogan was guarded by the state security services and insisted on an investigation why this was allowed.

A day later, Geshev organised an action movie-style raid of Radev’s offices, and the special prosecution arrested two of his advisors on unproven suspicions of influence peddling. The raid rocked Bulgaria as it was seen as an assault on the presidential institution and proof of Geshev’s dependence on the DPS.