{{Infobox constitution | document_name = Zhivkov Constitution<br />{{Nobold|Живковска Конституция}} | image = | caption = | orig_lang_code = bg | title_orig = Живковска конституция | jurisdiction = Bulgaria | subordinate_to = | date_created = | date_presented = | date_ratified = | date_effective = 18 May 1971 | system = | branches = | chambers = | executive = | courts = | federalism = | electoral_college = | number_entrenchments = | date_legislature = | date_first_executive = | date_first_court = | date_repealed = 12 July 1991 | number_amendments = | date_last_amended = | citation = | location_of_document = | commissioned = | writer = 5th National Assembly | signers = | media_type = | supersedes = Dimitrov Constitution }} {{Politics of Bulgaria}} The '''Zhivkov Constitution''' (Bulgarian: Живковска Конституция) was a communist state constitution and the third Constitution of Bulgaria overall. It was in effect from May 18, 1971 to July 12, 1991.<ref name=Rigas>Konstantinov, Emil. [http://www.cecl.gr/RigasNetwork/databank/REPORTS/r1/Bu_R1_konstantinov.htm Constitutional Foundation of Bulgaria (Historical Parallels)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401040356/http://www.cecl.gr/RigasNetwork/databank/REPORTS/r1/Bu_R1_konstantinov.htm |date=2016-04-01 }}. Rigas Network, 2002.</ref>
The Bulgarian Communist Party, under the leadership of general secretary Todor Zhivkov, used the outbreak of the Prague Spring as a pretext to tighten control over all social organizations and heavily re-emphasize "democratic centralism" within the party. Zhivkov and his colleagues were determined to reassure the Soviets that there would not be a Bulgarian version of the Prague Spring. A major result of the events of 1968 was the decision to replace the Dimitrov Constitution of 1947. <ref name=cs1>{{csref|country=bulgaria|section=Government and Politics: The Zhivkov Era|author=Glenn E. Curtis}}</ref>
The proposed changes were discussed and approved by a commission chaired by Zhivkov.<ref name=Rigas/> After receiving the assent of the Tenth Party Congress, it was approved via a national referendum held in May 1971. The document detailed for the first time the structure of the BCP (highly centralized, in keeping with policy after 1968) and its role in leading both society and state. The Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BANU) was specified as the partner of the BCP in the cooperative governing of the country.<ref name=cs1/>
A new State Council was created to oversee the Council of Ministers and exercise supreme executive authority.<ref name=cs2>{{csref|country=bulgaria|section=Historical Setting: The Zhivkov Era|author=Glenn E. Curtis}}</ref> In 1971, Zhivkov, prime minister since 1962, resigned to become chairman of the State Council.<ref name=Zhivkovobit>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/07/world/todor-zhivkov-dies-at-86-ruled-bulgaria-for-35-years.html|title=Todor Zhivkov Dies at 86; Ruled Bulgaria for 35 Years|last=Binder|first=David|work=The New York Times|date=1998-08-07}}</ref>
The 1971 constitution defined Bulgaria as a socialist state with membership in the international socialist community. Like its predecessor, it granted broad citizens' rights, but these rights were limited by the requirement that they be exercised only in the interest of the state. Citizens' obligations included working according to one's ability to build the foundation of the socialist state and defend the state, compulsory military service, and paying taxes.<ref name=cs1/> The new constitution also defined four forms of property: state, cooperative, public organization, and private. Private property was limited to that needed for individual and family upkeep.<ref name=cs2/>
Most of the governmental structure specified in the Dimitrov Constitution remained, but the State Council replaced the Presidium as the supreme organ of state power.<ref name=cs1/> This council consisted of a chairman--a post equivalent to that of president--and 22 members.<ref name=cs1/><ref name=Zhivkovobit/> The State Council was more powerful than the Presidium because it could initiate as well as approve legislation, and because it exercised some of the non-governmental supervision normally delegated to ruling parties in East European communist states of that period. Council members, nominally elected by the National Assembly, were members of the Bulgarian Communist Party or other mass organizations.<ref name=cs1/>
The National Assembly, traditional center of political power in Bulgaria until the 1947 constitution stripped it of power,<ref name=cs1/> was defined as the highest organ of state power,<ref name=Rigas/> with the State Council officially defined as an executive committee of the Assembly.<ref name=cs3/> It nominally received greater responsibilities than it had possessed in the 1947 document. Permanent commissions were to supervise the work of ministries, and legislation could now be submitted by labor and youth groups (all of which were party-controlled).<ref name=cs1/> In practice, the National Assembly only met for three brief sessions per year,<ref name=cs3/> during which it merely rubber-stamped legislation and BCP nominations for the State Council, Supreme Court, and Council of Ministers.<ref name=cs1/> When the National Assembly was not in session, the State Council had the power to issue decrees without even the theoretical requirement of submitting them to the National Assembly for approval at its next session.<ref name=cs3/> In most other Communist regimes, the legislature at least theoretically had the power of veto in such circumstances, though it was almost never exercised in practice. As such, the State Council had the effective power to pass laws whenever it desired, instead of needing nominal legislative approval for its decrees to remain effective after the end of the subsequent meeting of the legislature.
Zhivkov was forced to resign on November 10, 1989. A month later, his successor, Petar Mladenov, called for the BCP to give up its monopoly of power.<ref name=Rigas/><ref name=Zhivkovobit/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/12/world/petar-mladenov-bulgarian-communist-leader-63.html|title=Petar Mladenov, Bulgarian Communist Leader, 63|last=Honan|first=William|work=The New York Times|date=2000-06-12}}</ref> This was formally done on January 15, 1990; when the National Assembly struck out Article 1, which enshrined the BCP's "leading role" in the state.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/16/world/upheaval-in-the-east-bulgaria-bulgarian-party-loses-dominance.html|title=Bulgarian Party Loses Dominance|last=Bohlen|first=Celestine|work=The New York Times|date=1990-01-16}}</ref> In April, the State Council was abolished and replaced by the post of president of the republic.<ref name=cs3>{{csref|country=bulgaria|section=Government and Politics: Government Structure|author=Glenn E. Curtis}}</ref>
Participants in national round table discussions eventually agreed on the need for a completely new constitution, which took effect on July 12, 1991.<ref name=Rigas/>
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://parliament.bg/bg/19 The text of the Constitution of 1971 as amended in 1990 in Bulgarian at the site of the Bulgarian Parliament.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223171353/http://parliament.bg/bg/19 |date=2012-12-23 }}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Constitutions of Bulgaria Bulgaria Category:Legal history of Bulgaria Category:1971 in Bulgaria Category:1971 in law Category:1971 in politics Category:May 1971 in Europe Category:Constitutions of communist states