Bulgaria: Electricity protests continue despite minister’s sacking

The sacking of Bulgaria’s finance minister Simeon Djankov has done little to quell public anger over the cost of electricity.

Further demonstrations took place yesterday following a weekend of protests across 20 cities, described as the largest spontaneous rallies since the fall of communism.

With elections due this summer, support for the centre-right government has fallen dramatically.

Analyst Haralan Alexandrov thinks Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, who’s seeking a second term, is clearly worried about surging public fury.

“The protests have shown that people are no longer frightened of the overwhelming power of the state. So they take to the streets if they are unhappy and – let’s face it – there’s not much to be happy about at the moment. Meanwhile the government doesn’t have much room for manoeuvre to win back their support,” said Alexandrov.

With average salaries stuck at about 400 euros a month, many Bulgarians think the electricity bills they received last month were the last straw. Compared to last year, average bills rose between 50 to 100 percent.

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