The Bulgarian parliament Thursday accepted the resignation Prime Minister Boyko Borisov tendered a day earlier in the wake of protests against his government's austerity policies, dpa reported. Lawmakers voted in favour of the resignation 209-5, with one abstention. Borisov, 53, announced the resignation of the entire cabinet on Wednesday following clashes between police and demonstrators in Sofia. The protests were triggered by high electricity bills, but quickly turned to the government's austerity measures. Both Borisov's conservative GERB party and the Socialists who lead the opposition ruled out the possibility of participating in a caretaker government until elections. Parliamentary elections were regularly due in July, but are now expected to be moved forward, possibly to late April. In 2012, Bulgaria had a budget deficit of just 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product, earning praise from partners in the European Union.
