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Communist rule

Following the second world war, Bulgaria saw the creation of a People’s Republic, a state largely built on oppression and fear. Four decades of Communist rule and hardship (along with, it must be said, significant advances in the country’s social and economic infrastructure) followed. It was only in 1989 that democracy was installed and the country returned to a free market economy.

Parliamentary democracy

Under the post-communist constitution of 1991 Bulgaria became a parliamentary democracy with a president as head of state, a prime minister as head of government, and an executive cabinet nominated by the prime minister and confirmed by vote in the National Assembly – the single-chamber, 240-seat parliament, elected by the people every four years. The president – elected every five years – is currently Georgi Parvanov, who was re-elected for a second and final term in October 2006. As with the British system, the prime minister (since August 2005, Sergey Stanishev) is selected by the party with the most seats in the National Assembly.

Current government

The current government is centre-leftist, headed by the coalition of which Stanishev’s Bulgarian Socialist Party is the most prominent member, alongside the National Movement Simeon II (under ex-prime minister and, remarkably, former King Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which primarily represents Bulgaria’s Turkish minority.

Political stability

Although the coalition seems to be holding together relatively successfully and has achieved its primary goal of EU accession (Bulgaria joined the European Union in January 2007), political stability in Bulgaria is undoubtedly fragile, and fears have surfaced over the rise of the far right and the extreme left which could create problems for the Stanishev administration, and society as a whole, at a later date.

Corruption and the mafia

While Bulgaria is considered a genuinely free democracy at present, corruption remains a serious issue (and was indeed one of the main concerns of the EU Enlargement Commissioner in the lead-up to accession). Organised crime is entrenched and has been known to reach the highest levels of government. While freedom of speech is guaranteed by law, there is concern about the degree of influence exerted by the Bulgarian Mafia. This has been singled out by both the prime minister and the president as one of Bulgaria’s major concerns and challenges for the rest of the decade and it remains to be seen just how successfully that challenge will be met.

Related items

Documents and Reports

	Bulgaria country guide (995Kb)
	Bulgaria property buying guide (687Kb)
	Bulgaria property investment report (426Kb)
Documents and Reports

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