Bulgaria Leader Will Quit, New Cabinet to Be Formed

Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov’s government of former Communists, unable to halt the slide toward political and economic anarchy, will yield to demands that it resign, the state news agency reported today.

Police beat anti-government students blocking traffic today on the third day of a general strike against Lukanov, BTA news agency said.

Support for the strike called by the opposition Podkrepa trade union appeared to be growing. The national airline Balkan suspended all flights because of the strike and Sofia airport was closed, according to radio reports.

Podkrepa said Tuesday that 790,000 Bulgarians took part in the strike, including 220,000 in Sofia. The figures could not be confirmed.

BTA said it had learned from sources close to President Zhelyu Zhelev that the 52-year-old Lukanov and his Socialist government will resign in a compromise with the Union of Democratic Forces, the main opposition coalition.

“The president will appoint a caretaker Cabinet headed by a prime minister who will be neither of the Bulgarian Socialist Party nor of the Union of Democratic Forces,” the news agency said.

Lukanov, speaking to reporters later, said the BTA report was premature. But he did not deny it.

He said the composition of a new government had not yet been discussed.

“I hope this will happen soon because the current situation must not continue,” he said.

BTA quoted opposition leader Petar Beron as telling a rally that Lukanov’s last condition for resigning was to be permitted to do so with dignity.