The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria ( bg, Конституция на Република България, ''Konstitutsia na Republika Bǎlgariya'') is the supreme and basic law of the
Republic of Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
. The current constitution was adopted on 12 July 1991 by the 7th Grand
National Assembly of Bulgaria
The National Assembly ( bg, Народно събрание, Narodno sabranie) is the unicameral parliament and legislative body of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The National Assembly was established in 1879 with the Tarnovo Constitution.
Ordin ...
, and defines the country as a
unitary
Unitary may refer to:
Mathematics
* Unitary divisor
* Unitary element
* Unitary group
* Unitary matrix
* Unitary morphism
* Unitary operator
* Unitary transformation
* Unitary representation
* Unitarity (physics)
* ''E''-unitary inverse semigrou ...
parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
republic. It has been amended five times (in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2015).
Chronologically, it is the fourth constitution of Bulgaria, the first being the
Tarnovo Constitution
The Tarnovo Constitution ( bg, Търновска конституция) was the first constitution of Bulgaria.
It was adopted on 16 April 1879 ( O.S.) by the Constituent National Assembly held in Veliko Tarnovo as part of the establishment of ...
of 1879. It was immediately preceded by the two
Socialist-era constitutions–the
Dimitrov Constitution (named after
Georgi Dimitrov), in force between 1947 and 1971, and the
Zhivkov Constitution (named after
Todor Zhivkov
Todor Hristov Zhivkov ( bg, Тодор Христов Живков ; 7 September 1911 – 5 August 1998) was a Bulgarian communist statesman who served as the ''de facto'' leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) from 1954 until 1989 ...
), in force between 1971 and 1991.
Content
Political System
Distribution of powers
The constitution sets about a parliamentary form of government, in which executive power is rested upon the
Government of Bulgaria
The Council of Ministers ( bg, Министерски съвет, ''Ministerski savet'') is the main authority of the executive power in the Republic of Bulgaria. It consists of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria and all the specialized ministers ...
, legislative power within
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
and judicial power is distributed through the judicial institutions, with the Supreme Judicial Council at its head. The institution of
President of Bulgaria
The president of the Republic of Bulgaria is the head of state of Bulgaria and the commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian Army. The official residence of the president is at Boyana Residence, Sofia. After the completion of the second round of votin ...
is created as an arbiter between the other branches of government and wields mostly ceremonial powers, most notable of which is his position as
Commander-in-chief of the
Armed forces of Bulgaria.
Government formation
The Bulgarian government is nominally appointed by the President, but the latter must follow strict protocol during said appointment. When government formation takes place, the President is obliged to give the first mandate over to the largest party or faction within the national assembly. That faction then puts forward its proposed government, when is then put to a vote in the assembly. For the government to be elected, it needs to obtain the support of a majority of elected representatives during a session in which there is a
quorum. Should the largest party refuse the mandate, or should it fail to secure the support of a majority in the house, the President is then obliged to hand the mandate over to the second largest party or faction. Only if the second largest faction also fails to form a government is the President allowed to exercise discretion appointing a temporary
caretaker government until new elections can be held.
Society
Identity
The Bulgarian constitution states that the territorial integrity of the country is "inviolable" and expressly forbids any
autonomous
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...
territorial formations from being allowed to exist. The
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian (, ; bg, label=none, български, bălgarski, ) is an Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians.
Along with the closely related Macedonian l ...
is designated as the country's only official language.
Religion
The constitution establishes the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...
as "a traditional religion in the Republic of Bulgaria", but states that religious institutions must be
separate from the state and forbids religious communities and institutions from being used for political purposes. It also prohibits the formation of political parties based on religious or racial/ethnic affiliation.
Marriage
Marriage is defined as a "voluntary union between a man and a woman", explicitly rejecting any marriages other than
civil marriage
A civil marriage is a marriage performed, recorded, and recognized by a government official. Such a marriage may be performed by a religious body and recognized by the state, or it may be entirely secular.
History
Every country maintaining a pop ...
s concluded under this clause, thus effectively prohibiting both
same-sex and
polygamous marriage
Polygyny (; from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); ) is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women.
Incidence
Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any ...
s.
Amendments to the constitution
Amendments to most parts of the constitution may be adopted by the ordinary National Assembly, but the adoption of an entirely new constitution or the alteration of key articles, such as those pertaining to the form of state organization or national territory can only be adopted through the calling of a
Grand National Assembly of Bulgaria. The Grand National Assembly is an extended National Assembly composed of 400 elected representatives, instead of the 240 in the ordinary National Assembly. It is tasked specifically with making major alterations to the nation's constitution and is dissolved following the completion of the amendment process.
In either case, constitutional amendments may only be proposed either by 25% of the elected representatives within the assembly or by the President and require a 66%
supermajority of elected representatives in order to be adopted.
Proposed 2020 amendments
During the
2020–2021 Bulgarian protests, Prime Minister
Boyko Borisov announced that he would back a change in the country's constitution. The proposal tabled by his party would call for a Grand National Assembly in order to discuss the changes. Among them was a proposal to scrap the institution of the Grand National Assembly altogether, reduce the terms of judges and prosecutors and reduce the number of elected representatives in the ordinary National Assembly from 240 to 120. His proposals were supported by his coalition partners in the
SDS and conditionally by the
VMRO
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; bg, Вътрешна Македонска Революционна Организация (ВМРО), translit=Vatrešna Makedonska Revoljucionna Organizacija (VMRO); mk, Внатр� ...
, pending additional amendments to return
conscription and adopt further articles prohibiting same-sex marriage, among others. The
Volya Movement did not comment on the proposals, but rejected the government's calls for Grand National Assembly elections.
Democratic Bulgaria tacitly supported the proposals, while President
Rumen Radev, the opposition
Bulgarian Socialist Party and
There Are Such People parties and opposition leader
Maya Manolova rejected them outright.
Likewise, the proposals were also mostly rejected by the protesters on the streets.
See also
Former constitutions
*
Tarnovo Constitution
The Tarnovo Constitution ( bg, Търновска конституция) was the first constitution of Bulgaria.
It was adopted on 16 April 1879 ( O.S.) by the Constituent National Assembly held in Veliko Tarnovo as part of the establishment of ...
(1879)
*
Dimitrov Constitution (1947)
*
Zhivkov Constitution (1971)
Others
*
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
*
Constitutional economics
Constitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as explaining the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the choices and activities of econo ...
*
Rule according to higher law
*
Rechtsstaat
''Rechtsstaat'' (lit. "state of law"; "legal state") is a doctrine in continental European legal thinking, originating in Dutch and German jurisprudence. It can be translated into English as "rule of law", alternatively "legal state", state of ...
References
External links
Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria
{{Constitution of Europe
Constitutions of Bulgaria
1991 in law
1991 in Bulgaria
1991 in politics
1991 documents
July 1991 events in Europe