Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov has stepped aside along with his entire cabinet after weeks of intensifying nationwide demonstrations over rising living costs and persistent corruption allegations.
Zhelyazkov delivered the announcement in a televised address on Thursday, resigning shortly before parliament was scheduled to decide on a no-confidence motion that analysts widely expected his government to lose.
The political crisis erupted as Bulgaria prepares to adopt the euro on January 1, a transition that has sparked heated debate across the deeply divided country.
Zhelyazkov said the coalition had reviewed the deepening unrest and concluded that stepping down was the most responsible path. “Our legitimacy derives from the people,” he said, adding that leaders must meet public expectations during turbulent moments.
Crowds packed the streets of Sofia and major towns on Wednesday night in another wave of rallies demanding cleaner governance and rejecting the government’s draft 2026 budget. The budget — Bulgaria’s first planned fully in euros — was withdrawn last week after facing fierce criticism from unions, opposition parties, and civic groups who objected to proposed increases in social security payments and taxes on dividends.
Even after the withdrawal, protests surged across the Black Sea nation, which has held seven national elections in four years, underscoring voter fatigue and political instability.
President Rumen Radev, who had urged the government to quit earlier in the week, reiterated that leaders must heed citizens’ demands. In a message to legislators, he said the government had reached a breaking point and encouraged MPs to “listen to the voices filling the squares”.
Under Bulgaria’s constitution, Radev will now invite parliamentary parties to attempt forming a new administration. With political factions deeply fractured, analysts believe negotiations will stall, likely forcing the president to appoint a caretaker government and prepare for yet another election cycle.
