Zhelyu Zhelev

Zhelyu Zhelev Желю Желев
2nd President of the Republic of Bulgaria
In office 1 August 1990 – 22 January 1997
Vice President	Blaga Dimitrova
Preceded by	Petar Mladenov
Succeeded by	Petar Stoyanov
Personal details
Born	3 March 1935 (1935-03-03) Veselinovo, Bulgaria
Political party	UDF
Spouse(s)	Maria Zheleva
Profession	Philosopher
Religion	Bulgarian Orthodoxy

Zhelyu Mitev Zhelev (Bulgarian: Желю Митев Желев) (born March 3, 1935) is a Bulgarian politician and former dissident who was the first democratically elected President of Bulgaria, he is elected for his first mandate by the Parliament for the period 1990 to 1992, in January 1992 general elections are held when he is reelected for his second term 1992-1997.

Biography

Zhelyu Zhelev was born in March 3, 1935 in Veselinovo village, Shumen. He graduated philosophy from the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" in 1958, later he earned a Ph.D. (1974).

Dissident

He was member of the Bulgarian Communist Party, but was expelled from it for political reasons in 1965, he was also expelled from Sofia the following year and was unemployed for six years since all employment in Bulgaria was state regulated.

In 1982 he published his controversial work The Fascism (Bulgarian: Фашизмът; Fashizmat). Three weeks after publication in 1982, the book was forbidden and removed from bookstores and libraries as it pointed out similarities between the fascist dictatorship and the socialist regime.

SDS

Just before the changes, in 1988 he founded Ruse Committee and in 1989 became a founding member and chairman of the Club for Support of Openness and Reform (a time when many such democratic clubs were formed), which helped him to the position of Chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Union of Democratic Forces (Bulgarian: СДС, SDS) party.

MP and a President

He was elected MP in the 7th Grand National Assembly (July 1990), the Assembly had its main goal working a new democratic Constitution of Bulgaria. He was elected by the Assembly for a President of the Republic of Bulgaria on August 1, 1990.

Second presidential mandate

In January 1992 general presidential elections were held and he became the first democratically elected on general elections Bulgarian President, serving his second full five-year term until January 1997.

Presidential elections 1996

He also was a candidate for a president on the next general elections in 1996 but was defeated by the new UDF candidate Petar Stoyanov.

Later political career

After the 1996 election defeat and after the end of his presidency in 1997 Zhelev still remained in politics, but on a much smaller scale. He became Honorary Chair of the Liberal Democratic Union and Honorary Chair of the Liberal International and in 1997 went on to establish and preside over a foundation named after him. Zhelev was the initiator and president of the Balkan Political Club, a union of former political leaders from Southeast Europe.

Author

Zhelev has written a number of books and publications, the most notable one being his controversial 1981 work The Fascism. The book was removed from the bookshelves and destroyed a few weeks after it was published. This caught the attention of the Bulgarian readers and as a result this became the best-read book between 1981 and 1989. A few people were arrested by the secret police for possessing it. The author were interned to his hometown, Shumen and banned from public life.

The book analyzes the three classic fascist societies, the German Nazism, the Italian Fascism and the Spanish Fascism, and establishes five elements of a Fascist political system:

1. Single party system with strong personality cult.
2. Merger of the party apparatus with the state apparatus.
3. Total espionage.
4. Censorship.
5. System of repression (secret police with extraordinary authority and death camps).

The book does not pose any criticism against the Communist system in the former Soviet block and deals exclusively with well-known facts. However, the analysis of the above mentioned five elements of the Fascist countries clearly shows that the system of the Communist countries is a mirror image of the Fascist systems in sharp contrast with the Democratic countries, such as Western Europe and the USA.

World Justice Project

Zhelyu Zhelev serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project (ABA). The World Justice Project works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

References

Political offices
Preceded by Petar Mladenov	President of Bulgaria 1 August 1990 - 22 January 1997	Succeeded by Petar Stoyanov