Judge Chosen as Bulgaria’s Prime Minister
A politically independent judge who helped organize the country’s first free elections was chosen prime minister today, ending a week of uncertainty since the former Communist premier resigned.
Dimitar Popov, the head of Sofia’s municipal court, was nominated earlier in the day to the 400-seat Grand National Assembly by President Zhelyu Zhelev.
Assembly Chairman Nikolai Todorov announced that the parliament elected Popov by a “large majority” but he did not give the number of deputies who voted for him. He said 15 deputies voted against Popov and 29 abstained.
Parliament ordered him to present his government to the chamber within seven days.
Popov, 63, gained prestige as secretary of the Central Election Commission that organized and oversaw Bulgaria’s first free balloting in June.
The elections were won by the Socialists, formerly the Communists. But the government of Premier Andrei Lukanov suffered months of trouble because of a severe economic crisis.
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