CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION
The beginnings of constitutional government in Bulgaria date back to 1879 after Russia had liberated the country from 485 years of Turkish rule. From 1879 to 1947 the country was governed by a constitutional monarchy based on the Turnovo Constitution, which established a parliamentary system of government having a king at its head. Among comparable constitutions in Europe at the time, the Turnovo document was considered liberal and democratic in form, organization, and operation. It was considered to be one of the most liberal in the world at that time. Whereas most European countries limited suffrage in various ways, all Bulgarian citizens over the age of twenty-one enjoyed the franchise.
Through a sixty-five-year span, however, the Turnovo Constitution was revised twice, suspended twice, and violated many times. Basic to these conflicts was the limit on the power of the king and the extent of popular participation in government. The absence of consultative bodies in a unicameral legislature served to widen the rift between the executive and legislative branches.
Even after the communist takeover in 1944, the Turnovo Constitution continued to be the charter of government until a new constitution was adopted in December 1947. In party historiography the 1947 Constitution is described as the work of Georgi Dimitrov, hence it became known as the Dimitrov Constitution and remained in force until 1971.
The Constitution of 1947
In the mid-1940s, with the ascendancy of the BKP in the Fatherland Front coalition government, there arose a need to draw up a new charter. The changes in government structure and operation had rendered the Turnovo Constitution obsolete, and the BKP was anxious to discard those elements that party ideologists considered bourgeois.
Structurally the Constitution of 1947 consisted of eleven chapters and 101 articles without a preamble. It proclaimed Bulgaria a people's republic with a representative form of government to be implemented by universal suffrage of citizens eighteen years of age and over.
The constitution established the National Assembly as the supreme organ of the state power and the Council of Ministers as the supreme executive and administrative organ. During the twenty-four-year span of the 1947 Constitution, the Presidium of the National Assembly actually wielded more power than its parent organization or the Council of Ministers, even though such power was not ascribed to it in the Constitution. The power of the presidium derived from the BKP positions concurrently held by its members.
Legislative power was vested in a unicameral legislature, the National Assembly, which was elected for a term of four years. Assembly representatives were elected by the people on the basis of one representative for every 30,000 people; amended in 1961 to 25,000. Representatives served terms of four years but could be recalled at any time before the expiration of their terms. The constitution required the assembly to meet twice a year and on other occasions as required by its presidium, which met in continuous session.
The many functions of the National Assembly included electing the presidium, Supreme Court judges, and the chief prosecutor; appointing the Council of Ministers; amending the constitution; granting amnesties; deciding the holding of referenda; voting on the general economic plan; settling questions of war and peace; and other legislative matters of nationwide application.