From Belarus To Madagascar: The political environment of Bulgaria - Week 5

Since we hadn’t bought a lot of souvenirs yet, we convinced each other to buy the Martenitsa that Anou hit upon. Although I don’t really like red and white colored things, this will get its own special place in my house.

Still discovering Sofia, I decided to unravel the secrets of Bulgaria its politics. I’m not fond of political matters, so my friends suggested me to write about it. They said ‘this way you can broaden your horizon’ and in fact, I couldn’t agree more.

What could be more interesting than interviewing a politician himself?

Edvin Sugarev

No sooner said than done, I made a call to an ex-politician: Edvin Sugarev. He gladly welcomed us to his little Bulgarian residence and immediately offered us something to drink.

There were books and notes all over his desk and it made me wonder if he might be a writer.

After introducing ourselves and telling a little bit more about our adventures, Edvin started revealing the political information we needed.

Rosen Plevneliev, current President

July 1991 was the basis of the new Parliamentary Republic. The head of state is the President and he gets elected by a direct popular vote which takes place every five years.

Of course the President is assisted by a Vice-President.

Rosen Plevneliev is the current President and his Vice-President is Margarita Popova.

The Parliament consists of one chamber with 240 deputies elected for four years. It has a lot of responsibilities such as control of legislation, the state budget, taxes and of course setting the date for presidential elections.

Edvin also mentioned that the power of the President is relative. He can bring a law back to parliament for further consideration but he can’t make new laws.

Nevertheless also the President has a lot of tasks: announcing elections, concluding treaties, promulgating laws, acting as supreme commander of the armed forces, …