conventional long form: Republic of Bulgaria
conventional short form: Bulgaria

BU

parliamentary democracy

Sofia

9 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast);
Burgas, Grad Sofiya, Khaskovo, Lovech, Montana, Plovdiv, Ruse, Sofiya,
Varna

22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)

Independence Day, 3 March (1878)

adopted 12 July 1991

civil law and criminal law based on Roman law; accepts
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

chief of state: President Petar STOYANOV (since 22 January 1997); Vice
President Todor KAVALDZHIEV (since 22 January 1997)
head of government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime
Minister) Ivan KOSTOV (since 19 May 1997); Deputy Prime Minister Petur
ZHOTEV (since 21 December 1999)
cabinet: Council of Ministers 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 27 October and 3
November 1996 (next to be held NA 2001); chairman of the Council of
Ministers (prime minister) nominated by the president; deputy prime
ministers nominated by the prime minister
election results: Petar STOYANOV elected president; percent of vote -
Petar STOYANOV 59.73%

unicameral National Assembly or Narodno Sobranie
(240 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 19 April 1997 (next to be held NA 2001)
election results: percent of vote by party - UtdDF 52%, BSP 22%, ANS
7%, Euro-left 5.5%, BBB 4.95%; seats by party - UtdDF 137, BSP 58, ANS
19, Euro-left 14, BBB 12; note - seating as of May 1997: UtdDF 126, DL
58, ANS 19, Euro-left 17, PU 11, independents 9

Supreme Court, chairman appointed for a seven-year
term by the president; Constitutional Court, 12 justices appointed or
elected for nine-year terms

Alliance for National Salvation or ANS
(coalition led mainly by Movement for Rights and Freedoms or DPS)
; Bulgarian Business Bloc or BBB ;
Bulgarian Socialist Party or BSP ;
Democratic Left of DL ; Euro-left ;
Movement for Rights and Freedoms or DPS (member of LDU) ;
People's Union or PU ; Union of Democratic Forces or
UtdDF (an alliance of pro-democratic parties)

agrarian movement; Bulgarian
Agrarian National Union - United or BZNS; Bulgarian Democratic Center;
Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria or CITUB;
Democratic Alliance for the Republic or DAR; Gergiov Den; Internal
Macedonian Revolutionary Organization or IMRO; New Union for Democracy
or NUD; "Nikola Petkov" Bulgarian Agrarian National Union; Podkrepa
Labor Confederation; numerous regional, ethnic, and national interest
groups with various agendas

ACCT, BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE,
CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, G- 9, IAEA, IBRD,
ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, IHO (pending member), ILO, IMF, IMO,
Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NAM (guest), NSG,
OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO,
UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UPU, WEU (associate partner), WFTU, WHO, WIPO,
WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

chief of mission: Ambassador Philip DIMITROV
chancery: 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:  (202) 387-0174, 387-0365, 483-1386
FAX:  (202) 234-7973
consulate(s): New York

chief of mission: Ambassador Richard MILES
embassy: 1 Saborna Street, Sofia
mailing address: American Embassy Sofia, Department of State,
Washington, DC 20521-5740
telephone:  (2) 980-52-41 through 48
FAX:  (2) 981-89-77

three equal horizontal bands of white (top), green,
and red; the national emblem formerly on the hoist side of the white
stripe has been removed - it contained a rampant lion within a wreath
of wheat ears below a red five-pointed star and above a ribbon bearing
the dates 681 (first Bulgarian state established) and 1944 (liberation
from Nazi control)