Petar Beron (

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

: Петър Берон), born 14 March 1940 in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

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 Macedo ...

, is a Bulgarian academic and politician. He was leader of the

United Democratic Forces The United Democratic Forces ( bg, Обединени Демократични Сили, ОДС/ODS) were a center-right electoral alliance in Bulgaria, led by the Union of Democratic Forces. Members of the coalition 1997 * Union of Democrati ...

(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 and a presidential candidate in 2001 and 2006.

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, 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 Great National Assembly or Grand National Assembly may refer to: * Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia, an assembly of Romanian delegates that declared the unification of Transylvania and Romania * Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of R ...

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 humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. The SDS leader,

Zhelyu Zhelev Zhelyu Mitev Zhelev ( bg, Желю Митев Желев; 3 March 1935 – 30 January 2015) was a Bulgarian politician and former dissident who served as the first non-Communist President of Bulgaria from 1990 to 1997. Zhelev was one of the mos ...

, 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 A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

. He was one of the few people who signed the

Constitution of Bulgaria 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. The current constitution was ...

. 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. ...

- 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 v ...

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

Presidential Bid, 2001

Beron ran for president in 2001 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 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 ...

in the 2005 parliamentary election under the ticket of the new nationalist party - Attack. He split from the party in 2006.

Presidential Bid, 2006

Beron ran one last time for president - as an independent this time - in 2006 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