Kingdom of Bulgaria

Царство България
Tsarstvo Balgariya
Kingdom of Bulgaria

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1908–1946

→

Motto
Bog e s nas
Бог е с нас
God is with us

Anthem
Shumi Maritsa
Шуми Марица
Maritsa Rushes

Capital

Sofia

Government

Constitutional monarchy

Tsar

- 1908-1918

Ferdinand I

- 1918-1943

Boris III

- 1943-1946

Simeon II

Chairman of the Council of Ministers

- 1908-1911

Aleksandar Malinov

Legislature

National Assembly

History

- October 5, 1908

Established

- August 10, 1913

Treaty of Bucharest

- November 27, 1919

Treaty of Neuilly

- September 9, 1944

Coup d'état of 1944

- September 15, 1946

Disestablished

Area

95,223 km²

Population

- 1908

4,215,000

Density

44.2/km²

Currency

Bulgarian lev

Bulgaria

Eastern Rumelia

Bulgaria

v

The Kingdom of Bulgaria (1908-1946) was a constitutional monarchy in Eastern Europe.

Government[]

Bulgaria is a constitutional monarchy; by Art. III. of the Berlin Treaty it was declared hereditary in the family of a prince" freely elected by the population and confirmed by the Ottoman Empire with the assent of the powers. "According to the constitution of Trnovo, voted by the Assembly of Notables on the 29th of April 1879, revised by the Grand Sobranye on the 27th of May 1893, and modified by the proclamation of a Bulgarian kingdom on the 5th of October 1908, the royal dignity descends in the direct male line. The king must profess the Orthodox faith, only the first elected sovereign and his immediate heir being released from this obligation.

The legislative power is vested in the king in conjunction with the national assembly; he is supreme head of the army, supervises the executive power, and represents the country in its foreign relations. In case of a minority or an interregnum, a regency of three persons is appointed. The national representation is embodied in the Sobranye, or ordinary assembly (Bulgarian, Subranie, the Russian form Sobranye being usually employed by foreign writers), and the Grand Sobranye, which is convoked in extraordinary circumstances. The Sobranye is elected by manhood suffrage, in the proportion of i to 20,000 of the population, for a term of five years. Every Bulgarian citizen who can read and write and has completed his thirtieth year is eligible as a deputy. Annual sessions are held from the 27th of October to the 2 7th of December. All legislative and financial measures must first be discussed and voted by the Sobranye and then sanctioned and promulgated by the king. The government is responsible to the Sobranye, and the ministers, whether deputies or not, attend its sittings. The Grand Sobranye, which is elected in the proportion of 2 to every 20,000 inhabitants, is convoked to elect a new king, to appoint a regency, to sanction a change in the constitution, or to ratify an alteration in the boundaries of the kingdom.

The executive is entrusted to a cabinet of eight members - the ministers of

foreign affairs and religion,
finance,
justice,
public works,
the interior,
commerce and agriculture,
education and
war.

Local administration, which is organized on the Belgian model, is under the control of the minister of the interior. The country is divided into twenty-two departments (okri g, pl. okruzi), each administered by a prefect (upravitel), assisted by a departmental council, and eighty-four sub-prefectures (okolia), each under a sub-prefect (okoliiski natchdlnik). The number of these functionaries is excessive. The four principal towns have each in addition a prefect of police (gradonatchalnik) and one or more commissaries (pristav). The gendarmery numbers about 4000 men, or 1 to 825 of the inhabitants. The prefects and sub-prefects have replaced the Turkish mutessarifs and kaimakams; but the system of municipal government, left untouched by the Turks, descends from primitive times. Every commune (obshtina), urban or rural, has its kmet, or mayor, and council; the commune is bound to maintain its primary schools, a public library or reading-room, &c.; the kmet possesses certain magisterial powers, and in the rural districts he collects the taxes. Each village, as a rule, forms a separate commune, but occasionally two or more villages are grouped together.^[1]