(Bloomberg) -- Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov accepted the resignation of his deputy, Valeri Simeonov, after protesters demanded his dismissal for offending mothers of disabled children.
Simeonov, deputy premier in charge of economic and demographic policy, personally took the decision to step down on Friday over “his reluctance to cause tension in the government,” the cabinet in Sofia said in an email. He is a party leader in the junior coalition partner United Patriots, a loose alliance of three nationalist parties.
Borissov is heading his third cabinet since 2009 in the European Union's poorest nation, with goals including adopting the euro. About 100 people have been holding protests in central Sofia over the past 26 days with demands ranging from Borissov's and Simeonov's resignation to lower fuel prices.
The protests will continue after Simeonov's resignation until all demands for better social care for the disabled are met, according to a live report on Bulgarian National Television. Another protest was held on Friday night in the town of Pernik, were several dozen people demanded a better living standard, according to BNT.
To contact the reporter on this story: Slav Okov in Sofia at sokov@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Rose at rrose10@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Konstantinova, Michael Winfrey
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