Bulgaria Parliament Accepts Government Resignation

Bulgaria’s parliament accepted Thursday the resignation of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s government after days of sometimes violent protests against high electricity bills and low wages in the EU’s poorest country.

The surprise resignation announced on Wednesday came five months ahead of the scheduled end of the government’s term of office, opening the way for early elections in late April.

Nationwide protests have shaken Bulgaria in the past 10 days. They were first sparked by high electricity bills but soon snowballed into wider anger against deepening poverty and corruption in the small Balkan country.

The once hugely popular Borisov attempted to ease the crisis by sacking his unpopular finance minister on Monday and vowing to revoke the licence of Czech electricity giant CEZ on Tuesday.

Tensions however continued, with violence at a rally on Tuesday night finally prompting the 53-year-old former bodyguard of communist dictator Todor Zhivkov and police chief to throw in the towel.

The resignation was backed in parliament on Thursday by 209 lawmakers from the 215 present in the 240-seat legislature. Five were against and there was one abstention.