High Corruption Triggers Big Demonstrations In Bulgaria

Ilustrasi foto (Mike Von / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Thousands of Bulgarians rallied in Sofia. They demanded the resignation of Prime Minister (PM) Boyko Borissov as corruption cases became increasingly wild.

Monday, July 13, the demonstration has reached its fifth day. Reported by Reuters, the demonstration was held simultaneously in ten cities.

Protesters not only demanded Borissov to resign. They also criticized the failure of prosecutors who often fail when dealing with high-level corruption cases.

The prosecution is considered to have broken the rule of law in the poorest country in the European Union. The protesters shouted, "mafia!" and "resign!"

"I am here to protest against the corruption that has swept this country, against the oligarchs who have slipped into any and every area of public administration," said one of the advocates, Lachezar Lazarov.

The set of corrupted government. Bulgaria 2020 🇧🇬 Protest 2020 # protests2020 #BulgarianLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/o8T3XwwOWZ

- Scheiße 💀 (@MonstresG) July 12, 2020

Borissov, who has been in office since 2009, is considered to have broken his promise to eradicate corruption. Instead of fighting corruption, Borissov is considered to have weakened the institutions to oversee corruption. Borissov even fought back against his critics, including Bulgarian President Rumen Radev himself.

Bulgarians were even more furious when Borrisov asked prosecutors to raid the president's office as part of an investigation into two cases involving Radev. The problem is, until now the local authorities have not provided an official statement regarding the details of the case in question.

As a result, the anger of the residents became unbearable so that demonstrations broke out in several cities. Protesters see the move as an attack on Radev.

So far, Bulgaria has been designated as the most corrupt member of the European Union by the corruption official, Transparency International. To make matters worse, Bulgaria has yet to punish a senior official in connection with a corruption case, as a result of the policy that does not have one vote.