Constitution: adopted 12 July 1991
Legal system: based on civil law system, with Soviet law influence; has accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Zhelyu Mitev ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990);
Vice President (vacant); election last held January 1992; results -
Zhelyu ZHELEV was elected by popular vote
head of government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime
Minister) Zhan VIDENOV (since 25 January 1995); Deputy Prime Ministers
Doncho KONAKCHIEV, Kiril TSOCHEV, Rumen GECHEV, Svetoslav SHIVAROV
(since 25 January 1995)
cabinet: Council of Ministers; elected by the National Assembly
Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie): last held 18 December 1994 (next to be held NA 1997); results - BSP 43.5%, UDF 24.2%, PU 6.5%, MRF 5.4%, BBB 4.7%; seats - (240 total) BSP 125, UDF 69, PU 18, MRF 15, BBB 13
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, Constitutional Court
Political parties and leaders: Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Zhan
VIDENOV, chairman; Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Ivan KOSTOV an
alliance of pro-Democratic parties; People's Union (PU), Stefan SAVOV;
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (mainly ethnic Turkish party) (MRF),
Ahmed DOGAN; Bulgarian Business Bloc (BBB), George GANCHEV
Other political or pressure groups: Democratic Alliance for the
Republic (DAR); New Union for Democracy (NUD); Ecoglasnost; Podkrepa
Labor Confederation; Fatherland Union; Bulgarian Communist Party
(BCP); Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB);
Bulgarian Agrarian National Union - United (BZNS); Bulgarian
Democratic Center; "Nikola Petkov" Bulgarian Agrarian National Union;
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Union of Macedonian
Societies (IMRO-UMS); numerous regional, ethnic, and national interest
groups with various agendas
Member of: ACCT, BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE, CEI (associate members), EBRD,
ECE, FAO, G- 9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF,
IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), INTERPOL, IOC, IOM
(observer), ISO, ITU, NACC, NAM (guest), NSG, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WEU (associate partner), WFTU, WHO, WIPO,
WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in US: chief of mission: Ambassador Snezhana Damianova BOTUSHAROVA chancery: 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 387-7969 FAX: [1] (202) 234-7973