Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Political scientist Deyan Kyuranov regarded the government figures as redeemable despite the Peevski debacle, attributing the calls for the resignation of the government to the inertia of the initial anti-Peevski protest wave rather than logically or morally grounded arguments. In August 2013, former Bulgarian Prime Minister and Tsar Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha commented that the protests were reflective of "certain stakeholders' willingness to make use of the imperfections of democracy to sow disunity and cause divisions" between protesters and anti-protesters, members of various ethnic groups as well as people with different personality traits. He also questioned the degree to which the protests were representative of the wider society and criticized the media's disproportionate coverage of the demonstrations as well as the media anchors' lack of objectivity (i.e. when reporting on the actions of police officers) due to [them] "becoming factors in determining the political processes" rather than relaying information. Analysts who tended to be opposed to the protests pointed out that Bulgarian society had begun to suffer from a "protest fatigue" and the majority of citizens wanted the government to be given a chance to implement its policy aims before casting judgment on it. They also downplayed the parallels between the then anti-government wave and the 1997 demonstrations that brought down the cabinet envisioned by BSP because of their belief that the economic and financial climate in Bulgaria during Oresharski's tenure could hardly be depicted as being in an acute state of crisis. In this context, it is emphasized that the government was able to continue its mandate for longer than expected due to a combination of chance factors outside of its control (not necessarily related to the protests), including the reduction in the negative externalities because of the subsiding of the economic crisis and the relatively benevolent investment climate in Bulgaria as well as the lack of viable political alternatives. The protests have also come under fire by some sources due to exhibiting a general spirit of negativity and placing illogical demands. In October 2013, in an interview with Dnevnik, Ivan Kostov expressed the opinion that Peevski was certainly being demonized and took issue with the personal attacks against him, viewing them as unconstructive and not in line with European values.