Politics

The politics of Bulgaria takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Minister-Chairman is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly.

Since 1990, Bulgaria has an unstable party system, wherein nowadays the post-communist social democratic Bulgarian Socialist Party and the personalist liberal National Movement Simeon II are dominant. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The US Freedom House rates the country with a 1 on political rights and with a 2 on civil rights (on a scale of 1 to 7 whereas 1 is the most free). Freedom House considers Bulgaria to be a free country.

Executive Branch

The president of Bulgaria is directly elected for a 5-year term with the right to one re-election. The president serves as the head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. The President's main duties are to schedule elections and referenda, represent Bulgaria abroad, conclude international treaties, and head the Consultative Council for National Security. The President may return legislation to the National Assembly for further debate (a kind of veto) but the legislation can be passed again by an absolute majority vote.

The Council of Ministers is the principal organ of the executive branch. It is usually formed by the majority party in Parliament, if one exists, or by the largest party in Parliament along with coalition partners. Chaired by the Prime Minister, it is responsible for carrying out state policy, managing the state budget, and maintaining law and order. The Council must resign if the National Assembly passes a vote of no confidence in the Council or the Prime Minister or rejects a vote of confidence. The current governmental coalition is made of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), National Movement Simeon II (NMS), and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (representing mainly the Turkish minority).

Legislative Branch

The Bulgarian unicameral parliament, the National Assembly or Narodno Sabranie, consists of 240 deputies who are elected for 4-year-terms by popular vote. The votes are for party or coalition lists of candidates for each of the twenty-eight administrative divisions. A party or coalition must garner a minimum of 4% of the vote in order to enter parliament. Parliament is responsible for enactment of laws, approval of the budget, scheduling of presidential elections, selection and dismissal of the prime minister and other ministers, declaration of war, deployment of troops outside of Bulgaria, and ratification of international treaties and agreements.

Judicial Branch

The Bulgarian judicial system consists of regional, district and appeal courts, as well as a Supreme Court of Cassation. In addition, there is a Supreme Administrative Court and a system of military courts. The Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Supreme Administrative Court and the Prosecutor General are elected by a qualified majority of two-thirds from all the members of the Supreme Judicial Council and are appointed by the President of the Republic. The Supreme Judicial Council is in charge of the self-administration and organisation of the Judiciary.

The Constitutional Court of Bulgaria is in charge of reviewing the constitutionality of laws and statutes brought before it, as well as the compliance of these laws with international treaties that the Government has signed. The 12 members of the Constitutional Court serve a nine-year term. Parliament elects 1/3 of them.

Military

The Bulgarian Army represents the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. They are divided into three parts:

Bulgarian Land Forces
Bulgarian Navy
Bulgarian Air Forces

The patron Saint of the Army is Sveti Georgi (St. George) and his day, 6 May is also celebrated as Valour and Army Day. The Bulgarian Army is the only force in the world which never lost a single flag, although it actively participated in all major wars in Europe since the end of the 19th century.

Bulgaria first became a great military power in Europe under Khan Krum and Tzar Simeon I. From the beginning of 893 AD, he fought a series of wars with Byzantine for control over the Balkan Peninsula. Tzar Simeon I scored a series of stunning blows on the empire, mainly because of the large contingents of heavy cavalry. Heavy cavalry were typically horseman covered in scale and sometimes plate armour. Their tactics closely resembled those of feudal knights. They were also used to charge and trample their enemies to death underneath the hooves of the horses. Using about 12,000 heavy cavalry in total, Tzar Simeon I was able to bring the Byzantine Empire to its knees and only stopped at the capital - Constantinople. After the death of Tzar Simeon I Bulgaria's power in military terms decreased.

Today, after series of reductions, the number of active troops in the Army are 68,450. The military reserve includes 303,000 soldiers and officers. The Bulgarian Army's professional personnel has been involved in international missions in Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. From 2008, the compulsory military service is to be abolished.

In the framework of their strategic partnership, Bulgaria and the United States signed in April 2006 a Defence Cooperation Agreement providing for the development of the Bulgarian air bases at Bezmer (near Yambol) and Graf Ignatievo (near Plovdiv), the Novo Selo training range (near Sliven), and a logistics centre in Aytos as joint US-Bulgarian military facilities.