Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 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

Photo: National Archaeological Reserve Deultum - Debelt

A bottle featuring an image of the myth of the Chimera monster discovered in a 2nd-century Roman necropolis

Archaeologists have discovered a very rare and valuable glass bottle in a 2nd-century tomb in the southern necropolis of the Roman colony Deultum near the village of Debelt (Southeastern Bulgaria). What makes it unique is that it depicts the myth of..

published on 11/9/24 6:55 AM

Days of Croatian Archaeological Heritage start in Sofia

The Days of Croatian Archaeological Heritage, which will last until 8 November, begin today at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NAIM-BAS) in Sofia. The event is organised by the Croatian Embassy in..

published on 11/6/24 7:55 AM
The signing of the Treaty of Neuilly, 1919.

104 years since the annexation of the Western Outlands

Today, 6 November, marks 104 years since the annexation of the Western Outlands in 1920. Traditionally Bulgarian territories in south-eastern Serbia and northern Macedonia were ceded to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1920 as a result of..

published on 11/5/24 6:39 PM