Thirty-five years have passed since the pivotal beginning of Bulgaria’s transition from a one-party system to democracy and a market economy.
On November 10, 1989, the Central Committee of the ruling Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) held a plenum where they removed Todor Zhivkov, the longtime general secretary and head of state. He was succeeded by then-Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov, who soon criticized Zhivkov’s administration, accusing it of steering Bulgaria into economic crisis and practical bankruptcy.
This date, November 10, 1989, is widely seen as marking the start of Bulgaria’s democratic transition, though the dissolution of the BCP’s sole-party rule officially occurred the following year. Significant economic reforms, meanwhile, would only begin roughly 15 months after the plenum.
In December of 1989, the first opposition political organization, the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS), was founded, symbolizing the rise of political pluralism in Bulgaria.
Today, November 10 is commemorated as the start of the sweeping changes and transition to democracy. Bulgaria’s first democratically elected president, Zhelyu Zhelev, described this period as a “coup” and a “constitutional change” for the state. Together with subsequent protests and events, this era became known as Bulgaria’s “quiet revolution.”