The People's Republic of Bulgaria is a socialist state with a form of government not too different from the Soviet model on which it was patterned. Following the classical Marxist-Leninist ideology, it subscribes to rule by the working class—that is, dictatorship of the proletariat—a doctrine asserting that all power emanates from the people and is exercised by them through the electoral process. Corollary to this right of the people to elect national representatives is the power to recall them through the same instrument of the ballot. In practice, however, the dictatorship of the proletariat has been a dictatorship of the communist party.

The government has its theoretical base in the constitution adopted in 1971, which superseded the earlier version of 1947. The 1971 Constitution provides for a representative unicameral legislature known as the National Assembly, an executive committee within the legislature called the State Council, and a cabinet of advisers known as the Council of Ministers. For regional and local government the constitution establishes a hierarchical structure of people's councils. Parallel to the entire governmental structure there exist corresponding levels of the Bulgarian Communist Party (Bulgarska Komunisticheska Partiya—BKP, see Glossary) and, in practice, the party leadership at each level exercises executive and legislative control.

The 1971 Constitution, unlike the 1947 document, explicitly sanctions the leadership of the BKP. Its preamble unequivocally proclaims the leading role of the BKP in the government machinery as the directing force in promoting socialist goals and in actively participating in the fraternity of friendly socialist countries. Particularly noteworthy is the statement of recognition of Bulgaria's alignment with the Soviet Union.

The 1971 Constitution also recognizes the representation of multi-interest groups within the united Fatherland Front (Otechestven Front), a coalition of left-of-center political groups, which had its origins during World War II. The front has become a large umbrella for mass organizations and is headed by the National Council of the Fatherland Front, which functions under party auspices. As constituted in 1973, the front remained a control mechanism or, more appropriately, a transmission belt for the BKP.

The drafters of the 1971 Constitution of Bulgaria subscribed to Lenin's principle of unity of power, which advocated combined legislative-executive authority in one state organ of power. In the 1970s the State Council had assumed legislative initiative as well as executive responsibility, whereas the National Assembly, which was constitutionally endowed with the legislative authority, followed the lead of the State Council.

Government is structured on two levels: national and local. The highest legislative body, according to the constitution, is the National Assembly, which meets only three times a year in very short sessions. Executive direction at the national level comes from the State Council, which theoretically is elected by and responsible to the National Assembly. In effect, however, the council has become a superior body. Because the National Assembly meets infrequently, the State Council assumes legislative initiative in addition to its executive responsibility. The third major organ at the national level, referred to in the constitution as the government, is the Council of Ministers, which is theoretically appointed by and responsible to the National Assembly but is actually responsible to the State Council. National policy decisions reach the grass roots level through the pyramidal system of people's councils.

The judiciary, although independent in theory, is an integral part of the government structure that operates as an adjunct of the executive-legislative organs. By design the judicial system legitimizes communist control and gives legal expression to party policy. The system is structured so that the courts of law and the prosecution agency function together, and the latter enjoys police power.

CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION

The beginnings of constitutional government in Bulgaria date back to 1879 after Russia had liberated the country from 485 years of Turkish rule. From 1879 to 1947 the country was governed by a constitutional monarchy based on the Turnovo Constitution, which established a parliamentary system of government having a king at its head. Among comparable constitutions in Europe at the time, the Turnovo document was considered liberal and democratic in form, organization, and operation. It was considered to be one of the most liberal in the world at that time. Whereas most European countries limited suffrage in various ways, all Bulgarian citizens over the age of twenty-one enjoyed the franchise.

Through a sixty-five-year span, however, the Turnovo Constitution was revised twice, suspended twice, and violated many times. Basic to these conflicts was the limit on the power of the king and the extent of popular participation in government. The absence of consultative bodies in a unicameral legislature served to widen the rift between the executive and legislative branches.

Even after the communist takeover in 1944, the Turnovo Constitution continued to be the charter of government until a new constitution was adopted in December 1947. In party historiography the 1947 Constitution is described as the work of Georgi Dimitrov, hence it became known as the Dimitrov Constitution and remained in force until 1971.

The Constitution of 1947

In the mid-1940s, with the ascendancy of the BKP in the Fatherland Front coalition government, there arose a need to draw up a new charter. The changes in government structure and operation had rendered the Turnovo Constitution obsolete, and the BKP was anxious to discard those elements that party ideologists considered bourgeois.

Structurally the Constitution of 1947 consisted of eleven chapters and 101 articles without a preamble. It proclaimed Bulgaria a people's republic with a representative form of government to be implemented by universal suffrage of citizens eighteen years of age and over.

The constitution established the National Assembly as the supreme organ of the state power and the Council of Ministers as the supreme executive and administrative organ. During the twenty-four-year span of the 1947 Constitution, the Presidium of the National Assembly actually wielded more power than its parent organization or the Council of Ministers, even though such power was not ascribed to it in the Constitution. The power of the presidium derived from the BKP positions concurrently held by its members.

Legislative power was vested in a unicameral legislature, the National Assembly, which was elected for a term of four years. Assembly representatives were elected by the people on the basis of one representative for every 30,000 people; amended in 1961 to 25,000. Representatives served terms of four years but could be recalled at any time before the expiration of their terms. The constitution required the assembly to meet twice a year and on other occasions as required by its presidium, which met in continuous session.

The many functions of the National Assembly included electing the presidium, Supreme Court judges, and the chief prosecutor; appointing the Council of Ministers; amending the constitution; granting amnesties; deciding the holding of referenda; voting on the general economic plan; settling questions of war and peace; and other legislative matters of nationwide application.

Within the assembly the presidium—consisting of a president, two vice presidents, a secretary, and fifteen members—was empowered with legislative-executive authority, and it exercised judicial power in the interpretation of laws that were binding on everyone. More importantly, the presidium assumed the powers and functions of the National Assembly when the latter was not in session. In effect, the small presidium exercised the legislative function most of the time.

Executive and administrative direction was vested in the Council of Ministers, a cabinet elected by the National Assembly. The council consisted of a chairman, several deputy chairmen, the heads of various commissions having ministerial rank, and the ministers. The council was assigned the tasks of directing and administering the various ministries that were concerned with the economy as well as with affairs of state; the State Planning Committee; the State Control Committee; and the Committee on Art and Culture; as well as the Committee on Science, Technical Progress and Higher Education. In practice, the council implemented policy decisions of the party leaders who were its high-ranking officers.

Following the Soviet model, the first secretary of the party was also the chairman of the Council of Ministers and, as such, was the country's premier. It became evident through the years that the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the National Assembly were the ultimate sources of governmental authority because legislation they proposed was usually implemented by decree and approved, after the fact, by the National Assembly.

The 1947 Constitution treated the economic and social structure of the country extensively. It subscribed to collective ownership of the means of production; defined rules of national economic planning and social welfare; empowered the government to nationalize trade, industry, and transportation; expropriated land where necessary; and restricted ownership of private property—all in the interest of the state. The constitution also gave the state the prerogative to establish monopolies over production and trade.

Below the apex of the governmental pyramid lay the wide base of local governments. These consisted of district and communal people's councils exercising authority through their executive committees, which sat in continuous session. The executive committees of the people's councils cooperated closely with local party groups, and personnel were often concurrently members of executive committees and local party committees. Although the organization of local government was revamped in 1949, in 1951, and in 1959, by the mid-1960s it was replaced by twenty-seven districts plus Sofia, which became a territorial administrative unit. The decentralizing of governmental authority to the local organs of state power was designed to bring about greater efficiency and better supervision in matters of political, economic, and cultural interests.

The Constitution of 1971

The Constitution of 1971 was the result of the work of the Tenth Bulgarian Communist Party Congress, which was held April 20-25, 1971, in Sofia. This congress also produced a new program for the BKP, made changes in statutes, elected the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party, and adopted "Directives on the Socio-Economic Development of the People's Republic of Bulgaria during the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1971-75)."

The draft of the new constitution was presented for nationwide discussion on March 30, 1971, just three weeks before the opening of the tenth BKP congress. The congress approved the draft in its entirety on the opening day of session. The constitution was approved through a popular referendum on May 16 and was proclaimed law two days later by the National Assembly. General elections under the new law took place on June 27, 1971.

The structure and functioning of the different organs of state power as outlined in the Dimitrov Constitution remained essentially the same except that the State Council became a more powerful governmental body than the Presidium of the National Assembly that it replaced and, in effect, overshadowed the Council of Ministers in authority. The new document continues to define Bulgaria as a people's republic but also refers to its socialist character and to its membership in the international community of socialist states. Two new features are the declaration of principles in the preamble and the sanction given to the leadership of the BKP, aided by the Bulgarian Agrarian Union (also called the Agrarian Party) within a united Fatherland Front (see ch. 9).

The Constitution of 1971 reflects the new changes in the sociopolitical and socioeconomic development of the country as viewed by the communist leadership. The first chapter consists of twelve articles that briefly define the political philosophy upon which the constitution is based and the direction in which the party expects the country to move under the new charter. Simply stated, the philosophy avows that Bulgaria is "a socialist state of the working people of town and country, headed by the working class," and "the guiding force in society and the state is the Bulgarian Communist Party." The direction of movement expected by the country's leadership is evidenced by the assertion that "the socialist state shall promote the evolution of the socialist society into a communist society." This chapter also affirms the Marxist-Leninist principles that underlie the functioning of the state and the society.

The new document also addresses itself to significant changes in the interrelationships between the National Assembly, State Council (formerly the presidium), and the Council of Ministers. For instance, the constitution expanded the right of legislative initiative to include not only the National Assembly and the Council of Ministers but also the State Council, the permanent commissions of the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, the chief prosecutor, and the district people's councils. The rationale was that the National Assembly is not a continuously sitting body so that its functions must, of necessity, be assigned to state bodies of a permanent nature.Twenty articles explain the economic system and development of the republic based on the socialist ownership of the means of production. The constitution recognizes four kinds of ownership: state, cooperative, public organizations, and individual or personal.

The Law on Citizen's Property passed during the session of the National Assembly in March 1973, however, nearly abolished the private ownership of the means of production which, according to communist theory, is the basis for the exploitation of man by man. The new measure gave legal expression to what had been planned since the constitution was promulgated in 1971 and reflects the complete predominance of collective ownership in furtherance of the spirit of the tenth BKP congress. Private ownership is confined to "items for personal use."

Basic rights and liberties of citizens get constitutional guarantees, but in almost every stipulation that hinges on personal, civil, and political rights, in practice, the interest and welfare of the state take precedence. Basic rights and obligations embrace a wide scope of personal, civil, and political freedoms. Among these guarantees are the right to Bulgarian citizenship; civil rights of spouses, parents, and children; rights to work, rest, and receive health care and free education; freedoms of speech, press, association, and demonstration; rights to secrecy of correspondence and communication except in cases of national emergency; and freedom of worship. All citizens are declared to be equal before the law regardless of national origin, creed, social status, education, or sex. Article 36 extends to women equal rights with men. Mothers are guaranteed all-expense-paid hospitalization and maternity care, paid maternity leave of absence, and provision for children's care in nurseries and other establishments provided by the government. The protective arm of the state also extends to its citizens overseas.

Rights have commensurate obligations defined by the constitution to ensure the survival and strengthening of the socialist foundation. Foremost among these are the obligation to work according to one's abilities, the defense of the state, compulsory military service, and tax obligations for state support. Treason and other high crimes against the state, such as inciting war and disseminating propaganda, are treated with severity.

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT

The Central Government

The constitution exhibits an image of legislative supremacy asserting that power belongs to the people and is exercised through such elected representative bodies as the National Assembly and the people's councils. The practice, however, shows executive political hegemony exercised by the party leadership occupying positions of governmental responsibility, such as the head of the Council of Ministers and head of the State Council. The power exercised by a government organ is directly linked to the party positions held by its head and by its members. For example, Todor Zhivkov as president of the State Council (a position that automatically makes him president of the republic) is at the same time first secretary of the party and a member of its Politburo. Stanko Todorov, who is chairman of the Council of Ministers and thereby premier of the republic, is also a member of the Politburo. Several other members of the State Council and the Council of Ministers are concurrently members of the Politburo, the Secretariat, or the Central Committee. This interlocking of positions, which occurs not only at the national level but at all levels, ensures party control of the entire governmental system (see fig. 6).

State Council

The source of executive direction and control in the government is the State Council, a twenty-four-man executive committee within the National Assembly elected for an indefinite term until a new National Assembly elects a new council. It functions as a collegial executive and legislative body, and its president assumes the title of president of the People's Republic of Bulgaria.

The State Council of the National Assembly replaced the former presidium, to which the 1947 Constitution had given honorific titles but largely ceremonial functions. Conceived during a plenum of the party Central Committee in 1968 but not established until after the promulgation of the new constitution in 1971, the State Council was designed to be a powerful force, both executive and legislative, in the overall governmental structure. The best evidence to the power inherent in the structure of the new State Council was the fact that party leader Zhivkov chose to relinquish the premiership, which he had held for several years, in favor of the newly created position of president of the State Council. Zhivkov is one of a very few leaders of communist countries who continues to retain the top position in both the party and the government.

The State Council exercises a wide spectrum of authority that would theoretically be the responsibility of the National Assembly. In effect the State Council becomes the alter ego of, or a surrogate for, the National Assembly and arrogates to itself the constitutional prerogatives of the people and the elected legislature. Most members of the State Council are concurrently high-ranking members of the BKP.

Among the many duties and responsibilities of the council, the most important can be divided into two definite groups: those functions that are specifically defined and thereby permanent and those functions that the council assumes when the legislative body is not in session. During wartime, when it might not be possible for the assembly to meet, the constitution provides for the complete assumption of legislative and executive authority by the State Council.

The State Council's specific and permanent functions include, among others, calling the National Assembly into session, exercising the right of legislative initiative, determining bills that should be submitted to the people for nationwide discussion, interpreting the laws and decrees binding on everyone, creating and eliminating departments below ministerial level, appointing and recalling diplomatic representatives, granting Bulgarian citizenship, ratifying international treaties concluded by the government, and implementing the general direction of the defense of the country.

Figure 6. Bulgaria, Structure of Government, 1973