The leader of the biggest nationalist party in Bulgaria has forecast a gloomy and bumpy year ahead, saying that people will finally stand up against the crushing burden of high prices and taxes.

"The most important thing about 2008 is that it will be a critical year," Volen Siderov said in an interview for private Darik radio as it made its annual round-up of events.

"This will be the year when most Bulgarians will come to their senses and trigger social cataclysms," he added.

The nationalist leader singled out the nationwide strike of the teachers, who were off the job for six weeks in a protest against low wages, as the event of the past year.

"This is a sign that the Bulgarian people are waking up," he said.

According to him the nationalist party was the only one to remain untainted by the obnoxious, but wide-spread practice of vote-buying during the recent local elections.

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