flickr/BMW Spirita

People are gradually realizing their powers in a democracy and we are seeing united protests around the world. Arab Spring, Anti-government Protests in India against corruption, Anti-government protests in Romania against healthcare reforms, Protests in Greece, Protests in Iceland which were very ideal, Protests in US, and now protests in Turkey, Brazil, and Bulgaria. More countries and their citizen are getting inspired and awakened as the problems addressed in the protests happening now around the world are almost the same everywhere.

As the media involvement increased gradually in Turkey and Brazil, we haven’t actually seen much coverage by media in Bulgaria which is almost already completing one week of continuous protests against the government. While Turkey and Brazil became the centre of the media attraction, Bulgaria simply remained behind the international media curtain.

A democracy after a long communist regime, a parliament, president, membership in NATO since 2004, and membership in European Union since 2007, Bulgaria has everything, may be except the access to Schengen area. But what Bulgaria is really lacking is an efficient good governance. It is true that most of the countries are facing this problem, but Bulgarians have awakened to the fact that their political system has become unstable due to scandals and controversies during election campaigns, voting, and appointment of government and leaders.

The incapable government in Bulgaria has messed up the democratic system with corruption and its insufficient dedication to address common issues. The protesters now demand the “expert” government to step down and the parliament should be dissolved. Massive protests have gripped several cities in this South East European nation with tens of thousands of people protesting. Capital Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, and Burgas are few to name among them. Bulgarians are getting ready for a change which is required desperately to check any political and economic blunder.

Last month on 12th May 2013, Bulgaria held its Parliamentary elections, which was held two months ahead of its schedule due to protests in February 2013 ignited by high electricity prices, austerity measures mismanagement and poverty leading to resignation of then Government. During the new election, campaigning and vote counting was found to be full of controversies and scandals, even then the election did not bring any solid results. All what Bulgarians had to see was a hung parliament with no party winning the majority of the seats. The voter turnout during the May general election is also seen as one of the least since the communist era in Bulgaria.

Creating the conditions even worse, Boyko Borisov, the leader of largest party emerged after elections, declared the results as void and appealed for the cancellation of the results, claiming that there was illegal campaigning a day before the election. With this move, GERB, the party which secured 97 of the 240 seats decided to not to attend the sessions.

Meanwhile the protest got stronger as nearly 20,000 people went on the street against the new Socialist government which was created by the parliamentary majority and not through the victory in elections. This same government is widely blamed for bankrupting Bulgarian economy 15 years back.

What ignited the protests further was the appointment of Delyan Peevski as the chief of Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security, who has no experience in the security area. Delyan Peevski is known to have a media empire. There is a wide belief among the protesters that he has the power to alter news and change public opinion according to his benefit. Making him the chief of State Agency for National Security would give him access to security files and classified documents. One must be informed that Delyan Peevski was sued in 2007 for blackmailing when he was a member of the inter-institutional committee that issues licenses for weapons trade. He was dismissed from his position as a deputy minister for “lack of morals”. Later, he was fired by Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev accusing him of malpractice. His appointment as the chief of State Agency for National Security happened so quickly that those who were following the event did not get the clear picture from nomination to sworn-in and were wondering that how it all happened in just one day!

Photo by @Mirilicious

However, the hard work of the protesters paid off and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Plamen Oresharski apologized for the political appointment that submerged the three-week-old Bulgarian government into crisis. His appointment had caused the main opposition party to boycott the Parliament. On Wednesday, Parliament had to listen to its people and reversed the appointment. Later addressing the parliament, Prime Minister Oresharski said, “I made a political mistake, for which I apologise not only to you, but to the thousands of people who took to the streets to protest.”

The reversal of the appointment of Delyan Peevski doesn’t end the protest, but has given new hope to the people that when they stood united they made their government reverse an action. The protest is still on against corruption and for bringing the political stability in the country. We wish our Bulgarian brothers and sisters more courage and energy for this major struggle, you are not alone!

If you also want to the support what’s happening in Bulgaria, share this page on Facebook or twitter with the hash tag #ДАНСwithme. Promote this post and spread the word to help raise awareness. If you have an image or video or a write-up related with this issue, kindly share with us or send us via email and we will try to publish it on our platform of students’ journalism.

20,000 Bulgarians in Sofia went out to protest the corruption in government. Photo by @Zep_CK