NID: BULGARIA: LOOKING TO FREE ELECTIONS IN SIX MONTHS

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826818
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: December 12, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826818
BULGARIA: Looking to Free Elections In Six Months
Bulgarian party leaders, struggling to stay ahead of popular demands
for reform, announced yesterday that free elections will be held in six
months.
At thc party plenum that opened yesterday, the regime called for an
extraordinary party congress in March, free elections for the National
Assembly by May, and a new constitution to follow. General
Secretary Mladenov also hinted the constitutional article
guaranteeing the party's leading role will be rescinded soon. He had
said only last week that free elections probably would not take place
for several years.
The regime also is casing its handling of dissidents. It legalized the
leading unofficial environmental group yesterday, the first such
approval of a dissident group. The Assembly is to pass a law on
Thursday recognizing all dissident izroups. according to a government
spokesman.
Comment: The party leaders are moving boldly in an effort to salvage
their popular standing and give themselves time to implement their
economic reform program, but they are likely to cost the Communist
Party its majority in the Assembly. Blatant restrictions might create a
backlash from an emboldened public, and the resurging Agrarian
Party probably will present stiff competition for the first time in more
than 40 years. Moreover, the regime may not be able to limit the
participation of newly recognized opposition groups
Mladenov's apparently sudden reversal on the issue of free elections
suggests he is not in full control of the party. More reform-minded
members of the Politburo�like economic czar Lukanov, who
promised last week that elections are forthcoming, and newly
reinstated Politburo and Secretariat member Lilov�may be forcing a
faster implementation of political reform. The speed with which the
reformers are moving raises the possibility they may yet force
Mladenov's ouster, opening the way for the type of revolutionary
change occurring elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
4
TCS 2987/89
12 December 1989
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826818