Petar Beron ( Bulgarian: Петър Берон), born 14 March 1940 in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a Bulgarian academic and politician. He was leader of the United Democratic Forces (SDS) in from August 1990 to 4 December 1990 (heading the second-largest political party at the time). He was a vice-presidential candidate in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and a presidential candidate in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Biography

Petar Beron was born in Sofia on 14 March 1940. He graduated from the Biology-Geology-Geography Department of the Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia. Beron is fluent in Bulgarian, Russian, English and French.

Academic career

From 1963 up to 1969 he worked as a biologist at the Institute of Zoology with the

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; bg, Българска академия на науките, ''Balgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated ''БАН'') is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy ...

, becoming a research fellow between 1969 and 1978. He was then promoted to Senior Research Fellow.

Political career

Union of Democratic Forces

Beron was a founding member and secretary of the SDS (a coalition of multiple opposition groups) when it was formed on 7 December 1989. He was elected to the 7th Grand National Assembly in the first democratic elections in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

. The SDS leader, Zhelyu Zhelev, was elected president by the Grand National Assembly on August 1, 1990 and so Beron was elected to succeed him as chairman of the party. His tenure was relatively short lived. On December 4 he stepped down after admitting that he had worked as a police informer under the old regime. Beron was one of 70 MPs who were named in secret documents as having spied for the state security. Evidence was uncovered that he was a police informant code-named Bontcho who kept tabs on his colleagues for the secret police. In his defense he insisted that his police activities served the state and not the Communist Party. He was one of the few people who signed the Constitution of Bulgaria. Beron left the Union of Democratic Forces is 1991.

Vice-Presidential Bid, 1992

In the January 1992 presidential elections Beron was the running mate of

George Ganchev George Ganchev (born Georgi Petrushev) ( bg, Жорж Ганчев , born ; August 29, 1939 – August 19, 2019) was a Bulgarian politician and founder of the now-defunct political parties Bulgarian Business Bloc and George Ganchev's Bloc. B ...

- leader of the

Bulgarian Business Bloc The Bulgarian Business Bloc ( bg, Български бизнес блок, Bulgarski biznes blok, BBB) was a political party in Bulgaria. History The party first participated in national elections in 1991, when it received 1.3% of the national ...

. The duo finished third with 853,044 votes (16.8%).

Presidential Bid, 2001

Beron ran for president in

with Stoyan Andreev (from the Bulgarian Union) as his running mate. They finished sixth with only 31,394 votes (1.1%).

Back in Parliament 2005-2009

Beron was elected to the National Assembly in the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

parliamentary election under the ticket of the new nationalist party -

Attack Attack may refer to: Warfare and combat * Offensive (military) * Charge (warfare) * Attack (fencing) * Strike (attack) * Attack (computing) * Attack aircraft Books and publishing * ''The Attack'' (novel), a book * '' Attack No. 1'', comic an ...

. He split from the party in 2006.

Presidential Bid, 2006

Beron ran one last time for president - as an independent this time - in

with Stela Bankova as his running mate. They finished fifth with only 21,812 votes (0.79%).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beron, Petar 1940 births Politicians from Sofia Scientists from Sofia Living people 20th-century Bulgarian politicians 21st-century Bulgarian politicians Sofia University alumni Bulgarian explorers