The government of Rosen Zhelyazkov resigned after thousands of protests across the country. This is the first cabinet in more than a decade to fall after civil discontent.
24 governments have ruled Bulgaria since 1991. Almost half of them were caretaker, bTV recalls.
The strikes in 1992
More than 30 years ago, the cabinet of Filip Dimitrov, which relied on the support of the MRF, faced discontent and strikes. Even the union “Podkrepa“ declared itself against the government. In the summer of 1992, President Zhelyo Zhelev joined the attacks on the government.
The head of state called a press conference in Boyana, at which he sharply criticized the government for declaring war on the media, unions, the church, the presidency and extra-parliamentary political formations - an episode later called "Boyanski livadi". Two months later, the cabinet of Filip Dimitrov submitted a vote of confidence, but lost the vote.
A new composition of the Council of Ministers was elected within the same parliament. The majority of the BSP and the MRF stood behind it. Lyuben Berov's cabinet survived six no-confidence votes demanded by the UDF, but resigned in 1994.
"Videnov Winter"
Zhan Videnov's cabinet was the second to fall after mass protests. Hyperinflation, food shortages, and the country's economic collapse led to the government's resignation in December 1996.
While the "Videnov" continues to perform its functions until the election of a new regular or caretaker government, there are new protests, rebellion and storming of the parliament, which accelerates the procedure for forming a caretaker cabinet and calling parliamentary elections.
After the fall of Videnov, on February 4, 1997, Georgi Parvanov, leader of the BSP, and Nikolay Dobrev, candidate for prime minister, handed Petar Stoyanov a folder for forming a government within the remaining term of the 37th National Assembly.
Stoyanov refused to take the folder, and after the National Security Advisory Council, and within the same day, the BSP returned the mandate. The second and third mandates were not handed over publicly, and a statement by Petar Stoyanov, printed in issue 34 of the newspaper “Democracy“ from February 5, 1997, sheds light on what “Dondukov“ said 2.
„Antimonopoly protests“
The governments of Ivan Kostov, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Sergey Stanishev were the first to serve a full term, even though they lost elections afterwards.
Boyko Borisov's first government resigned in 2013 after the „Antimonopoly protests“. The discontent began in the winter of 2013, with political protests that began in late January 2013 and spread to over thirty cities in Bulgaria. Initially sparked by high electricity bills and directed against the electricity distribution companies (monopolies in the state-regulated electricity market), the protests turned against the political system in general.
#ДАНСwithme
GERB won the subsequent parliamentary elections, but failed to form a majority in the National Assembly. The government was headed by the BSP candidate for prime minister - financier Plamen Oresharski, who formed an expert cabinet of representatives of the BSP, MRF and independent experts.
The election of Delyan Peevski as chairman of the State Electricity Distribution Company (SANS) led to protests under the slogan #ДАНСwithme, which lasted for more than a year. After 405 days of protests, the “Oresharski“ cabinet resigns.
Boyko Borisov's second government resigns after losing the 2016 presidential elections, and the "Borisov 3" cabinet governs for a full term until 2021, despite major protests and blockades in 2020.
Election carousel and the "home book"
After two caretaker cabinets, a regular government was elected - that of Kiril Petkov, supported by the PP, ITN, BSP and DB. It fell after a vote of no confidence.
The Denkov-Gabriel government resigns in order to implement the agreed "rotation" of prime ministers, but PP-DB and GERB never reached an agreement on what the next cabinet, whose prime minister was supposed to be Mariya Gabriel, should look like.
The turbulent political situation is now bringing to the fore the question of how a regular government will be formed. And before that, on “Dondukov 2“ they will once again open the “house book“ to appoint a caretaker cabinet and hold new early elections.