7592 | 11 June 2025 | 15:02

In the pre-election campaign, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) clearly stated its positions in favor of national consensus and coalition government in the country as the only constructive way to establish new democratic principles

 The first democratic elections in Bulgaria following the major changes that began on November 10, 1989 took place 35 years ago - on June 10 and 17, over 6 million people voted proportionally and majoritarily for a total of 400 representatives. 200 of them were elected through party lists, while the remaining 200 were voted for as individuals. The elections for a Grand National Assembly, tasked with drafting a new Constitution for Bulgaria, were agreed upon at the Round Table Talks (from January to May 1990). One of the active participants in the Round Table Talks and the events that followed was Georgi Pirinski (BSP) - a longstanding member of parliament, chairman of the 40th National Assembly (2005-2009), and member of the European Parliament. We offer you his evaluation of the first free elections and the victory of the BSP.

 Georgi Pirinski's

 Results from the first free multi-party elections in June 1990 are known - with over 90% voter turnout, the BSP won 2,887 thousand votes, or 48.5%, which gave them an absolute majority of 211 seats in the 7th National Assembly. 2,217 thousand voters, or 36.2%, voted for the SDS. The unanimous conclusion of the numerous foreign observers was that the conducted elections represent a significant step in Bulgaria's transition from repressive one-party rule to a more democratic society. The format of the electoral process was the result of prolonged negotiations at the Round Table, and the parallel vote count organized by the Bulgarian Association for Fair Elections provided an independent basis for confirming the official results.

 What led to this victory of the Bulgarian Socialist Party - the only party that governed for the past 45 years among the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe - in the first free multi-party elections?

 First of all, because she asked for the trust of the voters as a seriously renewed, restructured socialist party with a new program document - the manifesto for democratic socialism and a new democratic statute.

 It is worth noting that after the decision for the new name Bulgarian Socialist Party, taken by a large majority of over 86% of those who participated in the internal party referendum at the end of March, from April 1st to June 1st, 24,804 new members were accepted into BSP, of which 13,210 were women, and only 5,484 people left. In addition, the newspaper "Duma" convincingly won the "duel" with the television screen, clearly reflecting and promoting this surge in support for the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

 The new behavior of the party, which it convincingly demonstrated through its participation in the work of the National Round Table from January to May 1990, was also of great importance. BSP became a co-organizer of the Round Table with the understanding that national consensus is necessary for urgent actions to overcome the deep socio-political and economic crisis that the country has fallen into in the late 1980s.

 At the beginning of the first round of negotiations, held on January 22 and 23, the opposing approaches of both sides became clear - while BSP aimed to offer national consensus on the crisis challenges facing the country, UDF declared "breaking down the system" as their top priority. This opposition was evident from the opening statements of both parties. On January 22nd, Zhelyu Zhelev stated: "We are starting our discussions on the most important topic that concerns all of us equally: the dismantling of the totalitarian system in our country...We are talking about a political regime, a political system that was forcefully imposed on the Bulgarian people with the help of the Soviet army...We cannot deceive ourselves. The whole repressive system in our country continues to exist as it was built by Zhivkov. And the repressive system of Zhivkov is no less than that of Ceaușescu. And as long as this system exists, we will remain its hostages." Therefore, it must be disbanded, dissolved, as soon as possible.

 "On the following day, January 23, Andrei Lukanov said the following: "The Bulgarian Communist Party decisively breaks with the Stalinist model of socialism, with its totalitarian methods of governance. It is this pseudo-socialism, and not socialism as a whole, that is experiencing a historical collapse before our eyes today. But with even greater determination, we declare our commitment to defend socialism, democratic and humane socialism, which we believe is the only guarantee for the Bulgarian people to achieve optimal unity between modern economic progress and social justice, and full spiritual development…. I want to emphasize that our firm stance in favor of democratic socialism does not mean that we are not ready to seek common ground and interaction with all those who are for the construction of a democratic rule of law state and civil society in Bulgaria, regardless of their political beliefs.

 At this moment - February, within the UDF circles, according to the words of Petko Simeonov in his memories titled "The Great Change", the peak of "the general madness" is increasingly taking place - threats of strikes and street actions were in the hundreds. Each person was banging their fist on the table in order to be noticed. I think that the beginning and the end of this style was given by the "Support" - the threat of a general strike in the second half of December 1989 (which started with the Round Table), the occupation of the residence in Bistritsa, which ended in failure. ” But between the beginning and the end, a series of cases can be arranged in which the action with a wooden stick on the door was considered the most effective.

 "In the end, the agreements accepted with the signatures of all participants included ten documents - seven agreements, two declarations, and one code - comprehensively addressed all questions necessary for the conduct of the first multiparty elections on June 10-17, 1990, in order to allow all participants to freely present their platforms and candidates and to campaign for support from the voters. These results provided the basis for the prominent researchers Prof. Evgenia Kalinova and Prof. Iskra Baeva and the roundtable discussion in their well-known study entitled "Bulgarian Transitions 1939-2010", as "the most successful and fruitful period, during which the transition was accelerated and channeled; as the most successful form in Bulgarian conditions for achieving a peaceful and civilized transition, as the most constructive and effective institution after November 10".

 However, the UDF leadership refused to sign the agreed expert-level project of the agreement "Basic principles and content of the economic reform", based on the shared understanding that "the political and social forces represented at the roundtable agree that finding a way out of the current socio-economic situation is a national, non-partisan issue that affects the entire nation." In this way, the UDF deprived the roundtable of the necessary agreement on the basic parameters of the necessary economic reform, which later allowed its representatives in power to impose a destructive shock option for its implementation.

 In the pre-election campaign for the June 10-17 elections, the Bulgarian Socialist Party clearly stated its positions in favor of national consensus and coalition governance of the country as the only constructive way to establish new democratic principles in society and to overcome the deep crisis in the economy at the lowest possible social cost.

 The campaign of the UDF, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction. “ The well-known maps of Bulgaria with skulls, evoking the image of the past 45 years as a time of widespread repressions and death, as well as the ritual procession for "burying communism" are well-known. It is interesting to peek into the mind of the prominent French specialist in election campaigns, Jacques Seguela, who was involved with the UDF at the time. According to his understanding, Bulgaria was a country with a passive rural population that did not like the Russians, which the West considered to be Soviet at heart, forgetting that a suppressed people are like still water. Hence the first advice to "stir the water": "we must attack first and expose the enemy." Imagine the map of Bulgaria, its borders marked with barbed wire... |

 In the end, the majority won in the Grand National Assembly allowed the Constitution of Bulgaria to be drafted and adopted - a merit not only of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, but also of all 314 members of parliament who solemnly signed it on July 12, 1991. The country's fundamental law regulates modern Bulgaria as a democratic, rule of law and social state. The fact that it is still far from being so is not due to the Constitution, but on the contrary - a consequence of the relentless resistance of all those forces and circles which either openly reject it or undermine it in a subtle way.