New Bulgaria Chief Backs ‘Free’ Voting : East Bloc: Ousted leader Zhivkov is denounced for corruption ‘greater than the Bulgarian czars.’

Joining the trend established in other Eastern European countries, new Bulgarian leader Petar Mladenov said Friday that he supports “free elections” and an independent Parliament.

It was not entirely clear, however, from his brief remarks to reporters if Mladenov meant free, multi-party elections like those found in the West. Some members of his government interpreted his words to mean elections within the framework of the Communist-affiliated Fatherland Front, a combination of Communist and so-called agrarian parties here.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the National Assembly where Mladenov was confirmed as head of state, former Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov was denounced for corruption “greater than the Bulgarian czars,” including the construction of more than 30 lavish private residences with public funds.

Members of the National Assembly also voted to repeal a law that had been used to jail political prisoners under the Zhivkov regime.

Later in the day, a large rally called by the government to show support for Mladenov was partially taken over by groups seeking even more radical reforms, including the expulsion of three members of the Mladenov ruling council, or Politburo, who served in the Zhivkov government. During the rally, a police car was surrounded by several hundred demonstrators, some carrying signs calling for “Less Police, More Democracy.”

The radical turn taken at the government-sponsored rally, which was supposed to be a staid, patriotic demonstration mainly attended by government workers, buoyed hopes in the small Bulgarian opposition, which plans its own demonstration today.

At one point in the fading light Friday, demonstrators staged a brief sit-in on the pavement in front of the Communist Party headquarters here. As they marched past the building housing the Bulgarian Council of Ministers, many people booed.

At the peak of the demonstration, more than 15,000 people were packed into the small square in front of the National Assembly building, and the crowd spilled into side streets. The government estimated the crowd at 100,000, hoping to steal some thunder from today’s planned opposition rally as teams of international television crews began to arrive here Friday.

Although still small in scale in comparison to the upheavals in other East European countries, particularly Poland, Hungary and East Germany, the events here in Sofia on Friday showed a new depth of support for reform, both on the part of the new government and on the part of the several thousand demonstrators in the streets.

In a place never celebrated for its spontaneity and joyous street life, a mix of residents ranging from middle-aged women to bearded university students displayed a remarkable enthusiasm to join in the general East European surge toward greater freedom and representative democratic rights.

The unusual day began with a particularly strong speech at the National Assembly session by Slavcho Trunski, a World War II resistance fighter who is a national hero in Bulgaria.

Trunski attacked Zhivkov for building lavish personal homes at state expense and diverting revenues from the Lyudmila Zhivkova Foundation, named after Zhivkov’s daughter, who died in 1981 under mysterious circumstances.

In the cruelest slap in this country where the pro-Nazi monarchy was overthrown to install communism, Trunski accused Zhivkov and his family of living more splendidly than the Bulgarian czars from the Koburg-Gotha dynasty.

“Our czar was a very modest man compared to Zhivkov,” said Trunski, causing a rumble of laughter in the assembly hall, although most of the delegates had served Zhivkov faithfully for years.

Trunski called for an investigation into the Lyudmila Zhivkova Foundation and into the allegedly huge gambling debts of Zhivkov’s son, Vladimir, director of the largely foreign-funded foundation.

According to a report at the U.S. Embassy here, outside members of the Lyudmila Zhivkova council include Armand Hammer of Los Angeles and British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell. In the past, the embassy has coordinated several cultural activities through the foundation.

At the demonstration following the National Assembly meeting, many in the crowd picked up on the corruption theme.

“Give us the son of Zhivkov!” some of the demonstrators shouted.

“Down with millionaires and Mercedes!” chanted others.

Mladenov, 53, a jowly man with thinning black hair, gave a speech before the National Assembly stressing the independence of the state, represented by the legislature, from the Communist Party.

The significance of his words was somewhat diluted by his election Friday by the assembly to the title of chairman of the Council of Ministers (head of state), in addition to his position as general secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

After the assembly’s morning session, Mladenov was asked by American and French reporters if he thinks free elections like those in Poland are possible in Bulgaria.

“It is possible,” he said. “Personally, I am for free elections.”

However, one of his associates, Parliament secretary Vladimir Kalaidjiev, doubted that Bulgaria, where legislatures are now elected on a single Fatherland Front slate, is ready for Western-style democracy.

“The creation of new parties is one of the necessities in our country,” Kalaidjiev said. “But in the near future, I do not see the participation of new parties, although we are attracted to the principle. I don’t think we are mature enough yet.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the National Assembly session, the first to be televised live in the history of this country of 9 million people, was the repeal of a notorious law that had been used to jail political prisoners during the Zhivkov regime.