President of Bulgaria Quits Under Pressure

Bowing to mounting pressure, Bulgarian President Petar Mladenov submitted his resignation Friday amid swirling controversy over remarks caught on videotape last December in which he talked about using tanks to disperse an anti-government protest.

Mladenov’s letter of resignation was read on national television at 8 p.m., meeting a deadline set by striking students in an ultimatum issued earlier in the day.

His decision to step down sent thousands of Bulgarians into the streets to rejoice.

“Never again a Communist president in Bulgaria!” an activist of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces told about 5,000 people gathered outside Mladenov’s office after he quit.

“Never! Never!” they shouted back. Many chanted “Victory!” and danced and hugged each other. Some carried banners that called Mladenov a liar. Others pulled model tanks up and down the pavement, mocking the former president.

Mladenov, a Communist reformer who oversaw Bulgaria’s transition to a multi-party democracy, submitted his resignation to the newly elected Parliament “in order not to be a reason to increase political tension,” Bulgarian television reported.

Political opposition parties and hundreds of student protesters had joined in calls for his resignation. Even the newspaper of the Bulgarian Socialist Party--the former Communist Party--joined calls for his resignation.

“Politics is a man’s game,” the newspaper Douma said in a front-page editorial. “Someone who is not good enough has to leave the stage.”

The Union of Democratic Forces issued a statement also urging Mladenov to resign. Trade unions, other opposition groups and the mainstream Agrarian Party also backed the students’ demands, the official BTA news agency reported.

The attacks on Mladenov were sparked by an amateur videotape in which he is heard to say “Let the tanks come” to quash a stormy protest last Dec. 14. About 50,000 demonstrators had converged on Parliament to demand that the Communist Party give up its monopoly on power. But they later dispersed peacefully and tanks were not called in.

The words--seemingly addressed to no one in particular--have also been translated as “It is better for the tanks to come.”

The videotape was broadcast on TV on an election program by the Union of Democratic Forces, three days before the June 17 parliamentary runoff elections.

After weeks of silence, Mladenov, in a nationwide television address on Wednesday, implicitly admitted having called for the use of tanks during the protests but said that his words had been taken out of context. He also said that he opposes violence and never intended that tanks be deployed against anti-government demonstrators.

“I am deeply convinced the Bulgarian people . . . would not believe the word, but the deed,” Mladenov said, seeking to put the controversy to rest.

But his comments came only after experts said the videotape was authentic. He had earlier said the video had been doctored.

Political observers said many Bulgarians were angered not so much by the words themselves as by Mladenov’s initial refusal to acknowledge that he made the remark, despite the clear evidence of the videotape, which was examined by specialists and determined to be authentic.

Mladenov, 53, was initially regarded as a reformer after ousting veteran Communist leader Todor Zhivkov in a party purge last November.

After replacing Zhivkov as Communist Party leader and president, Mladenov immediately began taking cautious steps toward reform and opened a dialogue with opposition groups that quickly organized.

He became president in April and led the country to its first free elections in four decades last month.

Also in April, the Communists changed their name to the Socialist Party and ended up winning 211 of the 400 seats in Parliament in the June elections. The Union of Democratic Forces won 144 seats.

Mladenov was to have served until the Parliament drew up a new democratic constitution, in about 18 months.

Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov appeared on national TV shortly after Mladenov’s resignation was announced and appealed for order so the Parliament could meet Tuesday for its first session in a calm atmosphere.

About 1,000 of the student strikers had gathered in front of the presidential building since Wednesday to press their demands for Mladenov’s resignation.

They had called for a 30-minute warning strike if Mladenov did not step down by 8 p.m. Friday and a general strike on Monday if he had not resigned by then.

Most of the original demands of the students, on strike since June 11, have been fulfilled, including the resignation of the TV director and publication of alleged election irregularities.

But according to BTA, the students drew up a new list of demands Friday. They have demanded that a date be set for a public trial of Zhivkov, 78, who is in detention. He has been charged with misappropriation of state property, inciting ethnic hostility and grave abuse of power.

They also demand the removal of parliamentary deputies associated with the former Communist regime’s decisions, such as setting up harsh prison camps and agreeing to take part in the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.