Bulgarians Pick Anti-Govt Protests as Symbol of 2013 - Poll

During the last months of 2013 Bulgaria’s capital Sofia witnessed occupation of university buildings that injected new life into a persistent anti-government movement. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The outgoing year, which will go down in history as full of unrest against the Socialist-led government, is best described and symbolized by the word "protest", according to 40% of Bulgarians.

The data came from a survey among 1011 Bulgarians conducted by the sociological agency Alpha Research in the period November 30 – December 8.

The anti-government protests, the protests against poverty, unemployment and corruption, fuelled by high electricity bills and the students’ protests are among the top five events of 2013.

Nearly half of the respondents - 47% - are negative about this year’s events.

There are four main reasons for the escalation of negative evaluations at the end of 2013 - the economic situation of households and businesses, the critically low trust in PM Oresharski’s cabinet, the external evaluations of the situation in the country, and the lack of a common goal and ideas for the development of Bulgaria.

The unfavorable environment and the lack of personal perspectives underlie the desire of 6.7% of Bulgarians to seek employment in another EU country after the job restrictions are removed on January 1 2014. Two thirds of them are under 30, 15% - under 40, 26% - have higher education, and 48% have high school education.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party enjoys the support of 16.5% of the polled,  15.8% of the respondents back the opposition center- right GERB, 6.1% - the predominantly ethnic Turkish  Movement for rights and freedoms (DPS) and 6.9% the right-wing Reformist bloc.

No more than 38% of respondents are optimistic about what next year will bring, while 29% are not. Their hopes are based on three symbols ‘integrity’, ‘elections’ and ‘success’.

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