 Until February 2013 GERB had 117 seats in the National Assembly , ruling as a minority government without support from the other political parties in the parliament . The government resigned on 20 February 2013 after nationwide protests caused by high costs of utilities , low living standards and the failure of the democratic system . The protest wave was marked by self @-@ immolations , spontaneous demonstrations and a strong sentiment against political parties . As a consequence , the Parliament was dissolved and a new provisional government was set up by the President . The subsequent snap elections in May 2013 elections resulted in a narrow GERB win . However , with no support from the other three political parties that entered the parliament , on 24 May , GERB leader Borisov returned the president 's mandate to try and form a government . The Bulgarian Socialist Party nominated ex @-@ Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski for the post of Prime Minister in May 2013 . Only two weeks after its initial formation the Oresharski government came under opposition criticism and had to deal with large @-@ scale protests some with more than 11 000 participants . The government survived five votes of no @-@ confidence before voluntarily resigning on 23 July 2014 . On 6 August , a caretaker government led by Georgi <unk> was sworn into office and the Oresharski government was officially dissolved . 
