Bulgarians’ confidence in the Government has decreased, according to an Alpha Research survey done between July 27 and August 2 2007.

Another trend is increasing support for Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), Focus news agency reported.

People were skeptical about the Cabinet changes that were made in July. The overall evaluation of Government performance remained unchanged compared to previous months. Just 30 per cent of the people gave a positive evaluation and 67 per cent negative.

Political events in July had an impact on the image of Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and the other ministers. Confidence in the Prime Minister went up by six per cent and reached 43 per cent in July.

The index of evaluation of ministers’ performances increased by eight per cent for Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin and by 4.7 per cent for Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski.

Bulgarians are mostly dissatisfied with achievements made in social sphere. Those most criticised were Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova, Health Minister Radoslav Gaidarski, Disaster Management Minister Emel Etem and Interior Minister Roumen Petkov.

Despite overwhelming opinion that early elections were not needed, large-scale protests in recent weeks resulted in an increased percentage of people who wanted elections to be brought forward, from 35 per cent in May to 40 per cent at the end of July.