Bulgarian Hard-Liners Purged
The Communist Party at a hastily called meeting of the Central Committee expelled more of the old guard from its leadership Friday in the second purge of top party posts in four weeks.
Dropped were six hard-liners in the Politburo and 26 members of the policy-making Central Committee, including former leader Todor Zhivkov, who was ousted as party chief on Nov. 10.
The committee’s actions are seen as strengthening the hand of new Bulgarian leader Petar Mladenov in his push toward democratic reform.
Friday’s unannounced meeting also struck from the committee’s record an expression of thanks made to Zhivkov for his leadership. Zhivkov ran Bulgaria in a rigid, Stalinist fashion for 35 years and is currently under investigation for corruption.
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