National holiday:
Liberation Day, 3 March (1878)
Constitution:
adopted 12 July 1991
Legal system:
civil law and criminal law based on Roman law; accepts compulsory
ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Georgi PURVANOV (since 22 January 2002);
Vice President Angel MARIN (since 22 January 2002)
head of government: Prime Minister Sergei STANISHEV (since 16 August
2005); Deputy Prime Minister Ivaylo KALFIN (since 16 August 2005)
cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister and
elected by the National Assembly
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket
by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 11 and 18
November 2001 (next to be held NA 2006); chairman of the Council of
Ministers (prime minister) nominated by the president and elected by
the National Assembly; deputy prime ministers nominated by the prime
minister and elected by the National Assembly
election results: Georgi PURVANOV elected president; percent of vote
- Georgi PURVANOV 54.13%, Petar STOYANOV 45.87%; Sergei STANISHEV
elected prime minister, result of legislative vote - 168 to 67
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly or Narodno Sobranie (240 seats;
members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 25 June 2005 (next to be held June 2009)
election results: percent of vote by party - CfB 31.1%, NMS2 19.9%,
MRF 12.7%, ATAKA 8.2%, UDF 7.7%, DSB 6.5%, BPU 5.2%; seats by party
- CfB 83, NMS2 53, MRF 33, ATAKA 21, UDF 20, DSB 17, BPU 13
Judicial branch:
Supreme Administrative Court; Supreme Court of Cassation;
Constitutional Court (12 justices appointed or elected for nine-year
terms); Supreme Judicial Council (consists of the chairmen of the
two Supreme Courts, the Chief Prosecutor, and 22 other members;
responsible for appointing the justices, prosecutors, and
investigating magistrates in the justice system; members of the
Supreme Judicial Council elected for five-year terms, 11 elected by
the National Assembly and 11 by bodies of the judiciary)
Political parties and leaders:
Attack National Union [Volen Siderov]; ATAKA (Attack Coalition)
(coalition of parties headed by the Attack National Union);
Bulgarian Agrarian National Union-People's Union or BANU [Anastasia
MOZER]; Bulgarian People's Union or BPU (coalition of UFD, IMRO, and
BANU); Bulgarian Socialist Party or BSP [Sergei STANISHEV];
Coalition for Bulgaria or CfB (coalition of parties dominated by
BSP) [Sergei STANISHEV]; Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria or DSB
[Ivan KOSTOV]; Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization or
IMRO [Krasimir KARAKACHANOV]; Movement for Rights and Freedoms or
MRF [Ahmed DOGAN]; National Movement for Simeon II or NMS2 [Simeon
SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA]; New Time [Emil KOSHLUKOV]; Union of Democratic
Forces or UDF [Nadezhda MIKHAYLOVA]; Union of Free Democrats or UFD
[Stefan SOFIYANSKI]; United Democratic Forces or UtDF (a coalition
of center-right parties dominated by UDF)
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria or CITUB;
Podkrepa Labor Confederation; numerous regional, ethnic, and
national interest groups with various agendas
International organization participation:
ACCT, Australia Group, BIS, BSEC, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EU
(applicant), FAO, G- 9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC,
IFRCS, IHO (pending member), ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO,
ITU, MIGA, NAM (guest), NATO, NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA,
UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIK, UNMIL, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU
(associate affiliate), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO, ZC