The organizers of the protests certainly want to reach the mass scale and energy of the spontaneous protests of 2013 or those of the second half of 2013, but for the moment, objective facts do not support the thesis that the protests are mass, which I do not want to belittle each individual participant in them. The fact that there are protests is great for a working democracy. This is how it should be, everyone should be free to express their will, their sympathies or their dislike of each politician in any way they see fit, whenever and wherever they see fit. But talking about mass protests at the moment is rather wishful thinking on the part of those who organize and support them and is far from objectivity when one is not involved in either the "for" or the "against" camp. This was said by political analyst Georgi Harizanov in the program "Bulgaria, Europe and the World in Focus" on radio "Focus".
On the topic of where civil discontent is currently directed, the analyst shares: "There are many different cases. The discontent against the budget as it is is obviously directed at the lawmakers. The dissatisfaction with what is happening with Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev is directed against the judicial system and the influence that is attributed by inertia, as if to those in power at the moment, to the powerful politicians at the moment. And there are many smaller, more diverse civil protests - there are protests over cases of victims of traffic accidents, there are protests in neighborhoods in Sofia. There are a variety of protests".
According to Harizanov, it would be a mistake to point out a common addressee, since they are very different in their genesis: "But of course, always on duty, this is normal and logical, their addressee is the rulers, whoever and whatever they are at the moment these protests are happening".
The analyst points out that the protests are a sign of the maturing civil discontent, which has always been a fact.
And he adds: "Unlike previous situations, there is no visible political force that would lead the protest and be able to capitalize on it, in the sense of attracting the protesters as their supporters, sympathizers, future voters. It is clear from sociology that this is not happening. One of the reasons why it is not happening is that with a nine-party parliament and even more parties participating in political life, and with such diverse protests, protests with such different causes, with so many different organizers, with so many different participants, it is very difficult to say: look, this political party is winning, it is raising, it is raising".
"It is clear from sociology that there is no such thing, and when I say sociology, I mean the entire sociology sector in general, leaving under a common denominator, no matter how wrong this may sometimes be, and looking at the smallest common multiple and the common multiple in general between all the various sociological surveys, because the agencies themselves are often suspected of bias, of manipulation, but they all show basically the same thing, which is that the leading political forces, those that made up the ruling coalition, continue to stand firm, GERB continues to be the first political force. "And if there are any shifts, they are more likely, to paraphrase football language, in the middle of the table, not at its tops," political analyst Georgi Harizanov also commented.