Introduction: The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of Bulgaria became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1908. Having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its...

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Political Overview: Parliamentary system

Under its July 1991 constitution, Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic with a parliamentary executive. It has a single chamber, 240-member parliament, the National Assembly, which is elected every five years by universal suffrage. Members are elected through a system of proportional representation, with a four per cent threshold for party representation. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are drawn from the group able to command a majority in the Assembly.

The President, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, is popularly elected once every five years for a maximum of two ...

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