Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

February 4, 1997 - one of the turning points in contemporary Bulgarian politics

PM Nikolai Dobrev (left) returns the mandate to President Petar Stoyanov (right)
Photo: Archive

Today marks 25 years since one of the most memorable dates in Bulgarian political life - February 4, 1997. Mass protests over the government's failure to cope with a number of crises forced Prime Minister Zhan Videnov to resign in late 1996. Power passed into the hands of President Zhelyo Zhelev a few days before handing over the post to his successor Petar Stoyanov. 

The parliamentary roulette urged BSP to regain a mandate to form a government. However, President Zhelev refused to hand it over to their candidate for prime minister, Nikolai Dobrev. This situation presented the next president with a difficult task. Stoyanov still fulfilled his obligation under the Constitution, but in his first address he appealed to the Socialists to return it unrealized. The BSP complied and Dobrev returned the mandate. 
The President appointed a caretaker government headed by Stefan Sofianski, which revealed the scale of the economic catastrophe, defended the national currency, agreed on the establishment of a Currency Board, and applied for Bulgaria's membership in NATO. And all this just a few months before the elections in April of that year, won by an absolute majority of the United Democratic Forces (SDS).



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Three points of views by Bulgarian historians on the Unification of Bulgaria in 1885

In June 1878, after the 10 th Russo-Turkish war in a row, at the Berlin congress, the lands in the Balkans inhabited by Bulgarians were divided up into five. Northern Dobrudja was handed over to Romania. Serbia got the Sanjak of Niš. The lands..

published on 9/6/25 8:05 AM

Bulgarian Orthodox Church marks start of ecclesiastical New Year on September 1

The New Church Year begins on September 1. The month of September is the seventh month of the year according to the Jewish calendar. It is associated with a number of biblical events, which is why it was designated as the beginning of the Church New..

published on 9/1/25 12:19 PM

In the footsteps of medieval monks – the hidden face of the Ivanovo Rock Monastery

High in the canyon of the Rusenski Lom River lies one of the most impressive spiritual centers of Bulgaria. It is a complex of dozens of rock-hewn cells, chapels and churches carved on both sides of the river , which came to life in the 13th century..

published on 8/31/25 11:35 AM