site.btaPresident Radev Expected to Submit Resignation to Constitutional Court

President Rumen Radev is expected to submit his resignation to the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. In a televised address to the nation Monday, Radev said this is his "last address as President" of Bulgaria. He said he will be submitting his resignation as head of State on Tuesday and expressed conviction that Vice President Iliana Iotova will make a worthy President. Radev is the first Bulgarian president to resign.

Under Article 97 of the Constitution, the president of the Republic may tender his resignation to the Constitutional Court prior to the expiry of his term of office. In such case, the vice president must assume the office of president for the remainder of the term of office. Within a period at its discretion, the Constitutional Court must decide whether the president has resigned of their own accord. If this is the case, the president's credentials will be terminated, and the vice president will step in.

Rumen Radev is the fifth democratically elected president of the Republic of Bulgaria. He was elected for his first term in November 2016 and was re-elected for a second term in November 2021. From 2014 to 2016, Rumen Radev was commander of the Bulgarian Air Force.

Since the enactment of the present Bulgarian Constitution in 1991, no Bulgarian president has ever resigned. Blaga Dimitrova tendered her resignation as President Zhelyu Zhelev's Vice President on June 30, 1993. By a decision dated July 6, 1993, the Constitutional Court released her from office with immediate effect.