site.btaJuly 12, 2026: Bulgaria's Current Constitution Turns 35

Thirty-five years ago on Sunday, Bulgaria adopted its current Constitution. It is the country's fourth since the restoration of Bulgarian statehood in 1878 and the longest-lasting one of the three under the republic. It entered into force on July 13, 1991, the day it was promulgated in the State Gazette.

The Constitution was enacted by the Seventh Grand National Assembly on July 12, 1991, which took a year to draft it, starting on July 10, 1990. Under the Rules of Procedure of the Grand National Assembly, the final approval took place at a conclusive fourth reading, during which members voted by personally entering their names and affixing their signatures in a special register.

MPs were called in alphabetical order to sign, but this procedure was set aside so that the oldest member of the Assembly, Yosif Petrov, then aged 82, would become the 267th signer, thereby ensuring the two-thirds majority of all 400 elected National Representatives required for the Constitution's passage.

A total of 309 members voted in favour of the Constitution in the debating chamber that day. Four lawmakers who were absent from the sitting later exercised their right to add their signatures, bringing the total number of supporters of the new basic law to 313.

The remaining 87 legislators refused to sign for various reasons. The best known among them were the "Group of 39" radical oppositionists of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), who boycotted both the vote and the signing ceremony in protest against the way the Seventh Grand National Assembly had conducted its business. On May 14, 1991, the 39 walked out of the legislature, having issued a declaration urging the Grand National Assembly to dissolve itself immediately, arguing that it was dominated by former Communists and no longer reflected the will of the people. They insisted that the Constitution should not be adopted by the existing majority and called for fresh elections in mid-July.

On July 10, 27 members of that group went on a hunger strike against what they described as the "shameful document" in a tent camp behind the St Sophia Basilica in central Sofia. The following day, they were joined in solidarity by 21 borough mayors from the capital. On July 19, 1991, following appeals from doctors and relatives and a political decision by the UDF National Coordinating Council, the protesters ended their ten-day hunger strike that had now lost purpose.

Some members of the "Group of 39" demanded that the new Constitution be submitted to a nationwide referendum. They further objected to the requirement that MPs take an oath of allegiance under the new basic law.

For their part, the parliamentarians from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) refused to sign because they disagreed with a number of constitutional provisions, particularly those governing minority rights and the prohibition of political parties based on ethnic or religious affiliation.

Other who withheld their signatures included representatives of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU), independents and lawmakers from the Fatherland Union, all of whom objected in principle to specific provisions of the adopted Constitution.

Following the precedent of the "Dimitrov Constitution" of 1947 and the "Zhivkov Constitution" of 1971, the 1991 Constitution also acquired an unofficial personal nickname. During the spring and summer of 1991, the UDF radical wing coined for it the derisive label "Dertlilov Constitution" as a tongue-in-chief blend of the surnames of the two political leaders who advocated the swift adoption of the new basic law: Dr Petar Dertliev, leader of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party (then a constituent of the UDF), and Alexander Lilov, leader of the Bulgarian (ex-Communist) Socialist Party. Dertliev was accused by his critics of collaborating with Lilov in order to consolidate the Socialists' position through a constitution portrayed as the product of a behind-the-scenes compromise between party headquarters rather than a genuinely democratic act.

Cornerstones of 1991 Basic Law

A defining feature of Bulgaria's democratic transition was the adoption of an entirely new constitution to provide the legal framework for the country's political transformation and to ensure institutional stability throughout the transition.

The new Constitution established a parliamentary system of government, drawing on constitutional models from Germany, Greece and Italy. Its provisions on fundamental rights and freedoms were aligned with the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Unlike Bulgaria's previous constitutions, the 1991 Constitution set out a clear political vision for the country's future, proclaiming that Bulgaria would evolve as a democratic and social state governed by the rule of law. The values enshrined in the Constitution are precisely those behind which an otherwise deeply divided Bulgarian society has rallied: an independent judiciary, separation of powers, and protection of fundamental rights.

The Constitution established the institution of president of the Republic, defining the office holder as head of State and embodiment of national unity. As a non-partisan figure, the president is expected to safeguard the continuity of the state, uphold the constitutional order, and act as a balancing force between the country's political institutions. Elected by popular vote, both the president and the vice president are limited to two five-year terms of office.

The separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers is widely regarded as one of the Constitution's principal strengths. Legislative authority is vested in the National Assembly, which also exercises parliamentary oversight. It consists of 240 members elected to a four-year term. The Council of Ministers directs and implements the country's domestic and foreign policy in accordance with the Constitution and the laws. The judiciary is independent and protects the rights and legitimate interests of individuals, legal persons and the state. In performing their duties, judges, jurors, prosecutors and investigating magistrates are subject only to the law. The territory of Bulgaria is divided into municipalities and administrative regions.

The Constitution was also the first in Bulgaria's history to establish a Constitutional Court as a separate institution, independent of the National Assembly, the president and the Council of Ministers and not part of any of the three branches of government. Since its inception in 1991, the Constitutional Court has issued more than 80 decisions providing a binding abstract interpretation of the basic law. Through this interpretation, the Constitution is merely clarified and particularized, without being "rewritten" or amended.

The basic law further sets out the principles of Bulgaria's democratic electoral system, including universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. It defines the forms of property ownership: private and public (state and municipal), it lists citizens' fundamental rights, freedoms and duties, and establishes the state coat of arms and seal, the national anthem, the national flag, and Sofia as the capital of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The provisions of the Constitution have direct effect, by virtue of which every citizen and every legal entity may invoke the Constitution to protect their rights and legitimate interests.

BTA was mentioned in the Transitional and Final Provisions of the new Constitution, according to which a new special law was to define the agency's place in the organization of the State and the fundamental principles underlying its operation. Until the adoption of such new law, the standing parliamentary Committee on Radio, Television and BTA was assigned to give opinions on nominations for director general and lay them before the National Assembly.

Six Amendments, One Annulled

Because the adoption of an entirely new constitution requires the election of a Grand National Assembly, Bulgarian politicians have generally preferred to revise the existing one rather than replace it. Since its adoption, the Constitution has been amended in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2015, and 2023. All six amendments were enacted by ordinary National Assemblies.

A Constitutional Court decision of September 2006, which declared the Third Amendment of March 2006 unconstitutional, is treated as a separate (Fourth) constitutional amendment because it effectively altered the operative text of the basic law. The provision, adopted by Parliament as it was, lost its legal effect and was removed from the body of the Constitution.

Some of the amendments were related to Bulgaria's integration into the European Union. Virtually all the others concerned the chapter on the judiciary.

The most controversial amendment is the latest one, adopted in December 2023. In July 2024 the Constitutional Court invalidated it almost entirely, leaving in force the provisions concerning the president's powers in appointing a caretaker prime minister only because of a split six-to-six vote in the Court.

In early 2026, in his then capacity as President, Rumen Radev unveiled a draft package of far-reaching amendments to the current Constitution. Despite dozens of consultations held at the President's Administration, the text was never officially published or tabled in the National Assembly. Radev repeatedly stated that "a completed draft exists", but said he would present it only to a "legitimate parliament" committed to genuine reform rather than political manoeuvring. The principal proposals included introducing an individual constitutional complaint, lowering the thresholds and removing obstacles to holding national referendums, curbing the largely unchecked powers of the Prosecutor General while strengthening parliamentary oversight of the office, changing the method of appointing the members of the Supreme Judicial Council in order to make judges more independent of party quotas, and introducing stronger mechanisms for public oversight of MPs and the quality of legislation.

After Radev's Progressive Bulgaria won the parliamentary elections in the spring of 2026, constitutional reform and changes to the Supreme Judicial Council once again moved to the forefront of the political agenda - this time backed by the parliamentary majority.

New One Wanted?

Since the adoption of the basic law in 1991, Bulgaria has seen three major official political initiatives, apart from numerous conceptual proposals, for a replacement of the current Constitution. Most have sought a radically new form of government - a switch from parliamentary to presidential republic, or the abolition of the Grand National Assembly.

In August and September 2020, GERB unveiled the only draft for an entirely new Constitution that was formally submitted to the registry of the National Assembly with the required 122 legislators' signatures. The initiative came from then Prime Minister Boyko Borissov during mass anti-government protests. It envisaged abolishing the Grand National Assembly, reducing the number of MPs from 240 to 120, and splitting the Supreme Judicial Council into two separate councils (one for judges and one for prosecutors). In November 2020, however, the proposal failed to secure the required 160 votes (a two-thirds majority) needed to call elections for a Grand National Assembly, and the initiative collapsed.

In January 2023, the There Is Such a People party initiated a campaign for a national referendum on the following question: "Do you support holding elections for a Grand National Assembly to decide on changes to the form of state government and the transition from a parliamentary to a presidential republic?" The petition, however, failed to gather the required number of valid signatures to trigger a mandatory referendum.

During coalition negotiations with GERB in 2020, IMRO also came up with conditions and proposals for a completely new constitution. It centred on imposing an educational qualification for voting (completion of seventh grade in school), reintroducing conscription for men, expanding the president's powers by granting them the right to initiate legislation and to enter a motion of no confidence in the cabinet, and enshrining in the Constitution's preamble the concept of the traditional family as a union between a man and a woman. Only some of these proposals (notably the amendment to the preamble) were included into the joint constitutional draft with GERB, which ultimately failed, while the proposal for an educational qualification for voting was rejected as discriminatory.

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Following is an English translation of a report by which BTA's Domestic News Desk bulletin covered the July 12, 1991 plenary sitting at which the new Constitution was conclusively passed:

Seventh Grand National Assembly Adopts New Constitution and Dissolves Itself

Sofia, July 12 (BTA correspondent Mikaela Vazharova) - The Seventh Grand National Assembly today adopted Bulgaria's fourth Constitution, which is the first entirely new constitution to be enacted in the former socialist bloc.

At 2:30 p.m., the Grand National Assembly dissolved itself. It will continue to function as an ordinary National Assembly.

The basic law was backed by 309 parliamentarians. Dimitrina Petrova of Ecoglasnost signed with a dissenting opinion. The Constitution does not bear the signatures of the two Deputy Chairmen of Parliament, Nikodim Popov and Ivan Glushkov, nor was it inked by Finance Minister and MP Ivan Kostov. Even before the approval procedure, a total of 74 MPs had declared in advance their flat refusal to go down in history as signers of the basic law. They included 56 lawmakers of the UDF [Union of Democratic Forces] (representing the Nikola Petkov BANU [Bulgarian Agrarian National Union] and the United Democratic Centre), as well as all [23] MPs of the MRF [Movement for Rights and Freedoms].

"We have every reason to be satisfied with our work, and I believe the Bulgarian people will also be satisfied. With this Constitution, Bulgaria has crossed the boundary separating a repudiated totalitarian system from a society based on democracy and the market economy." Saying this, the Chairman of the Grand National Assembly, Academician Nikolai Todorov, summed up the significance of the day immediately after the fourth and final vote - the signing ceremony - had concluded.

The adoption of the democratic Constitution was "a triumph of the idea of peaceful transition; it is the logical culmination of the course embarked upon by the Bulgarian Socialist Party on November 10," said Prof. Nora Ananieva, leader of the Socialist Parliamentary Group. [The reference is to the fall of Todor Zhivkov's totalitarian regime on November 10, 1989.] "Motherland, standing before you, we can honestly say that we have done everything humanly possible. We bow before you!" declared Social Democrat Dr Petar Dertliev. "May what is good prevail for Bulgaria. God be with Bulgaria," was how most of the speakers wound up their remarks.

Prime Minister Dimitar Popov was brief: "Fight as much as you wish in this chamber; outside it, let there be peace and tolerance. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that, with profound satisfaction, you can now tell your colleagues who are not here: this stage of the struggle has ended. Come back, and let us continue together," the Prime Minister urged.

Bulgarian President Dr Zhelyu Zhelev was present in the chamber but did not address the Assembly. The signature that secured the qualified majority required for the Constitution's adoption was the 267th, affixed by the oldest MP, Yosif Petrov. It was he who had opened the inaugural ceremonial sitting of the Seventh Grand National Assembly in Veliko Tarnovo.