oman Empire)

National holiday: Liberation Day, 3 March (1878)

Constitution: adopted 12 July 1991

Legal system: civil law and criminal law based on Roman law; accepts
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Petar STOYANOV (since
22 January 1997); Vice President Todor KAVALDZHIEV (since 22 January
1997)

head of government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime
Minister) Ivan KOSTOV (since 19 May 1997); Deputy Prime Minister
Petur ZHOTEV (since 21 December 1999)

cabinet: Council of Ministers elected by the National Assembly

elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket
by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 27 October
and 3 November 1996 (next to be held NA 2001); chairman of the
Council of Ministers (prime minister) nominated by the president;
deputy prime ministers nominated by the prime minister

election results: Petar STOYANOV elected president; percent of vote
- Petar STOYANOV 59.73%

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly or Narodno Sobranie
(240 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)

elections: last held 17 June 2001 (next to be held NA June 2005)

election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party -
National Movement for Simeon II 120, UDF 51, BSP 48, DPS 21

Judicial branch: Supreme Administrative Court; Supreme Court of
Cassation; Constitutional Court (12 justices appointed or elected
for nine-year terms); Supreme Judicial Council (consists of the
chairmen of the two Supreme Courts, the Chief Prosecutor, and 22
other members; responsible for appointing the justices, prosecutors,
and investigating magistrates in the justice system; members of the
Supreme Judicial Council elected for five-year terms, 11 elected by
the National Assembly and 11 by bodies of the judiciary)

Political parties and leaders: Alliance for National Salvation or
ANS (coalition led mainly by Movement for Rights and Freedoms or
MRF) [Ahmed DOGAN]; Bulgarian Business Bloc or BBB [Georgi GANCHEV];
Bulgarian Socialist Party or BSP [Georgi PURVANOV, chairman];
Democratic Left or DL (bloc led by BSP, includes Ecoglasnost
Political Club and Bulgarian Agrarian National Union) [leader NA];
Euro-left [Aleksandur TOMOV]; Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization or UMRO [Aleksander KARAKACHNOV]; Kingdom of Bulgaria
Federation [leader NA]; Movement for Ri