Stefan Antonov Sofiyanski ( bg, Стефан Антонов Софиянски ) (born November 7, 1951) is a Bulgarian politician who served as interim
Prime Minister of Bulgaria
The prime minister of Bulgaria ( bg, Министър-председател, Ministar-predsedatel) is the head of government of Bulgaria. They are the leader of a political coalition in the Bulgarian parliament – known as the National Assemb ...
in 1997 and was a three-term
Mayor of Sofia
This is a chronological list of mayors of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, since that post was established after the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878. The first governor of Sofia was Petr Alabin.
Initially, the mayors of Sofia were assigned by the ...
. He was a leading member of the
Union of Democratic Forces.
Sofiyanski was born 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 ha ...
in 1951. He was a statistics graduate from the Karl Marx Higher Institute of Economics and held a number of positions in the Ministry of Communications and Information during
communist rule
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comint ...
. He served in the cabinet of
Filip Dimitrov
Philip Dimitrov Dimitrov ( bg, Филип Димитров Димитров ) (born 31 March 1955) is a Bulgarian politician, Prime Minister of Bulgaria 1991 – 1992, MP in the 36th (1991 – 1994), 37th (1994 – 1997) and the 40th (2005 ...
and became one of the leading members of the UDF. He was elected Mayor of Sofia in 1995 and served in this position, being re-elected twice - in 1999 and 2003, until 2005 when he resigned to become a parliamentary deputy. He was appointed as caretaker Prime Minister by President
Petar Stoyanov
Petar Stefanov Stojanov ( bg, Петър Стефанов Стоянов ; born 25 May 1952) is a Bulgarian politician who was President of Bulgaria from 1997 to 2002. He was elected as a candidate of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF). He di ...
in 1997 until such time as
Ivan Kostov
Ivan Yordanov Kostov ( bg, Иван Йорданов Костов ) (born 23 December 1949, in Sofia) was the 47th Prime Minister of Bulgaria in office from May 1997 to July 2001 and leader of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) between Dec ...
could form a government.
In 2001 he announced that he was to leave the UDF and form his own party. He ultimately formed the
Union of Free Democrats
The Union of Free Democrats ( bg, Съюз на свободните демократи, ''Sajuz na svobodnite demokrati'') is a conservative political party in Bulgaria, led by Stefan Sofiyanski. It contested the 2001 elections as part of the U ...
and, although it initially remained a part of the UDF, Sofiyanski and his party threw in their lot in with the
Bulgarian People's Union
The Bulgarian People's Union ( bg, Български народен съюз) was a centre-right electoral alliance in Bulgaria. It contested only one legislative election: that on 25 June 2005. It won 5.7% of the popular vote and 13 out of 240 ...
. On January 1, 2007 he joined the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
as one of Bulgaria's interim members until
the elections in May of the same year.
In June 2008 Sofiyanski drew criticism from human rights advocates for his
homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
remarks following Bulgaria's first
gay pride
LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sham ...
parade. In an interview for
Darik Radio
Darik Radio is a Bulgarian radio station, specializing in news and comments from Bulgaria. It was launched at 12 am on 21 January 1993. Darik Radio is the biggest private radio station in Bulgaria. It has an extensive network of correspondents in ...
Sofiyanski said he "would never have authorized the parade," had he still been Sofia's mayor. With regard to the
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
community, he stated that "those people have their rights to personal choice and privacy, however,
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
is
condemned by the Bible and is
unnatural, and has no right to publicity. It is as if thieves had a parade — because those people are thieves of morality."
References
External links
Biography of Sofiyanski
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sofiyanski, Stefan
1951 births
Living people
Prime Ministers of Bulgaria
Mayors of Sofia
University of National and World Economy alumni
Union of Democratic Forces (Bulgaria) politicians
Bulgarian People's Union MEPs
Karl Marx Higher Institute of Economics alumni