This article gives an overview of liberalism and radicalism in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. It is limited to

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and radical

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it is not necessary that parties label themselves as a liberal party.

Background

Liberalism was a dominant political force at the end of the nineteenth century. The current got strongly divided.

History

After the restoration of democracy in 1990, some parties got a liberal character. Liberalism is now represented by the mainly Turkish minority party

Movement for Rights and Freedoms The Movement for Rights and Freedoms ( bg, Движение за права и свободи ''Dvizhenie za prava i svobodi'', ДПС, DPS; tr, Hak ve Özgürlükler Hareketi, HÖH) is a centrist political party in Bulgaria with a support base ...

(''Dviženie za prava i svobodi'', observer LI, member ELDR), the National Movement for Simeon II (''Nacionalno Dviženie Simeon Vtori'', member LI, ELDR) and

Democratic Bulgaria Democratic Bulgaria ( bg, Демократична България, ДБ, ''Demokratichna Balgariya, DB'') is an electoral alliance in Bulgaria formed by three political parties – Yes, Bulgaria!, Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria and The Green ...

(''Demokratichna Balgariya''), both taking a more or less liberal position.

From Liberal Party to Democratic Party

*1879: Liberal forces united in the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

(''Liberalna Partija'') *1884: A right-wing faction formed the ⇒ Progressive Liberal Party *1886: Another right-wing faction formed the ⇒ People's Liberal Party *1887: A third faction formed the ⇒ Radoslav Liberal Party *1896: The party is renamed into

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(''Demokratičeska Partija'') *1905: A radical faction seceded as the ⇒ Radical Democratic Party *1923: A faction joined the Democratic Alliance (''Demokratičeski Sgovor'') *1934: The party is banned by the dictatorship *1945: The party is revived *1947: The party is banned by the communist dictatorship *1989: The party is revived as a Christian conservative party

Progressive Liberal Party

*1884: A right-wing faction of the ⇒ Liberal Party formed the

Progressive Liberal Party The Progressive Liberal Party ( abbreviated PLP) is a populist and social liberal party in the Bahamas. Philip Davis is the leader of the party. History The PLP was founded in 1953 by William Cartwright, Cyril Stevenson, and Henry Milton T ...

(''Progresivnoliberalna Partija'') *1920: The party merged into the

United People's Progressive Party The United People's Progressive Party ( bg, Обединена народно-прогресивна партия, ''Obedinena narodno-progresivna partiya'', ONPP) was a political party in Bulgaria. History The party was formed by a merger of the ...

(''Obedinena Narodnoprogresivna Partija'')

People's Liberal Party

*1886: A right-wing faction of the ⇒ Liberal Party formed the

People's Liberal Party The People's Liberal Party ( bg, Народнолиберална партия, ''Narodnoliberalna partiya'', NLP) was a political party in Bulgaria. History One of the four factions to emerge from the old Liberal Party, the party was establishe ...

(''Narodnoliberalna Partija'') *1920: The party merged into the ⇒ National Liberal Party

Radoslavist Liberal Party / National Liberal Party

*1887: A right-wing faction of the ⇒ Liberal Party formed the Radoslav Liberal Party (''Liberalna-Radoslavistka Partija'') *1904: A right-wing faction seceded as the ⇒ Tonchevist Young Liberal Party *1920: The party merged with the ⇒ Tonchevist Young Liberal Party and the ⇒ People's Liberal Party into the National Liberal Party (''Nacionalliberalna Partija'') *1934: The party is banned by the dictatorship

Tonchevist Young Liberal Party

*1904: A right-wing faction of the ⇒ Radoslav Liberal Party seceded as the Tonchevist Young Liberal Party (''Mladoliberalna Partija-Tončevisti'') *1920: The party merged into the ⇒ National Liberal Party

Radical (Democratic) Party

*1905: A radical faction of the ⇒ Democratic Party seceded as the Radical Democratic Party (''Radikaldemokratičeska Partija'') *1922: The party is renamed Radical Party (''Radikalna Partija'') *1923: A faction joined the Democratic Alliance (''Demokratičeski Sgovor'') *1934: The party is banned by the dictatorship *1945: The party is revived *1949: The party is banned by the communist dictatorship *1989: The party is refounded as the Radical Democratic Party (''Radikaldemokratičeska Partija'') *1990s: The party took part in various electoral alliances with decreasing success

Movement for Rights and Freedoms

*1990: Representatives of the Turkish minority formed the

(''Dviženie za Prava i Svobodi''), that develops in a more or less liberal direction

National Movement for Simeon II

*2001: Followers of the ex-king formed the personalist National Movement for Simeon II (''Nacionalno Dviženie Simeon Vtori''), that takes a more or less liberal position in the spectrum *2006:

GERB GERB ( bg, ГЕРБ, translation=coat of arms, acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) is a conservative, Populism, populist List of political parties in Bulgaria, political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria betwee ...

split from NDSV, which adopted more conservative position than NDSV.

"Blue" Parties/Urban Right

*1989: Centre-right and conservative forces form the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS). *1997: SDS forms with minor parties such as ⇒ Democratic Party, National DPS (split from ⇒ DPS),

Union of Free Democrats The Union of Free Democrats ( bg, Съюз на свободните демократи, ''Sajuz na svobodnite demokrati'') is a conservative political party in Bulgaria, led by Stefan Sofiyanski. It contested the 2001 elections as part of the U ...

(split from SDS) and ⇒ RDP the

United Democratic Forces The United Democratic Forces ( bg, Обединени Демократични Сили, ОДС/ODS) were a center-right electoral alliance in Bulgaria, led by the Union of Democratic Forces. Members of the coalition 1997 * Union of Democrati ...

. *2005: The conservative-liberal

Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria ( bg, Демократи за силна България, ДСБ, Demokrati za Silna Balgariya, DSB) is a political party in Bulgaria established by former Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov (1997–2001). His ...

(''Демократи за силна България'') split from the conservative SDS. *2007: Mariya Kapon leaves ⇒

and forms the United People's Party (''Единна народна партия''). *2008: Gospodin Tonev leaves SDS and forms the Bulgarian Democratic Community (''Българска демократична общност''). *2009: The conservative SDS, DSB, the social democratic

Bulgarian Social Democratic Party The Bulgarian Social Democratic Party ( bg, Българска социалдемократическа партия, ''Balgarska Sotsialdemokraticheska Partiya'', BSDP) is a social democratic political party in Bulgaria. It was part of the Blue ...

, the agrarian United Agrarians and ⇒ Radical Democratic Party formed the centre-right Blue Coalition, leading to a series of centre-right coalitions which take a more or less liberal position in the spectrum. *2012:

Meglena Kuneva Meglena Shtilianova Kuneva ( bg, Меглена Щилиянова Кунева; born 22 June 1957) is a Bulgarian and EU politician. Biography Born in Sofia, Kuneva is descended from a Catholic family from the town of Rakovski. She graduat ...

leaves ⇒ NDSV and formed

Bulgaria for Citizens Movement Bulgaria for Citizens Movement ( bg, Движение „България на гражданите“, Dvizhenie „Bulgariya na grazhdanite“, Movement "Bulgaria of the Citizens") is a political party in Bulgaria, founded by former European ...

(''Движение „България на гражданите“''). *2012:

Nadezhda Neynsky Nadezhda Neynsky,Name after her second marriage after she divorced with her previous husband. previously known as Nadezhda Nikolova Mihaylova ( bg, Надежда Николова Михайлова) (born 9 August 1962 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian ...

leaves SDS and formed Blue Unity (''Синьо единство''). *2014: BNG, DSB and SDS formed the

Reformist Bloc The Reformist Bloc ( bg, Реформаторски блок, Reformatorski blok) was a centre-right electoral alliance in Bulgaria. History The coalition agreement to form the alliance was signed on 20 December 2013. The five parties that signe ...

. SE and ENP formed The Rights. *2014: Movement for European Unification and Solidarity (''Движение за европейско обединение и солидарност'') was formed and the Democratic Action Movement (''Движение „Демократично действие“'') split from SDS. *2015: DSB leaves the Reformist Bloc. *2017: Former Minister of Justice Hristo Ivanov formed

Yes, Bulgaria! Yes, Bulgaria! ( bg, Да, България!, translit=Da, Balgariya!), is a Bulgarian political party, founded in January 2017 by former Minister of Justice Hristo Ivanov. Yes, Bulgaria! is part of a coalition with Democrats for a Strong Bulga ...

(''Да, България!'') and joins forces with DEOS. DSB and BDO form the "New Republic". *2018: Blue Unity and DEOS dissolve. Coalition for you Bulgaria (''Коалиция за теб България'') was formed. *2018: DSB, the green-liberal Green Movement and Yes, Bulgaria! form

. *2019: ENP and DS form "Rise". *2021: ENP and DBG join Stand Up! Mafia, Get Out!. KztB and BDO form "We, the Citizens". DS dissolves. Dignity of United People (''Достойнството на един народ'') split from DBG to join Democratic Bulgaria.

We Continue the Change

*2021:

Kiril Petkov Kiril Petkov Petkov ( bg, Кирил Петков Петков; born 17 April 1980) is a Bulgarian politician, economist, and entrepreneur, who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from December 2021 to August 2022. He is the co-leader of We ...

and Asen Vasilev and formed

We Continue the Change We Continue the Change ( bg, Продължаваме промяната, Prodalzhavame promyanata; PP), sometimes translated as Change Continues, is a centrist, anti-corruption political party and an electoral alliance in Bulgaria led by Kiril P ...

, that takes a more or less liberal position in the spectrum. *2022: We Continue the Change (''Продължаваме промяната'') became a party.

Liberal leaders

* Pre-communist period ** Democratic Party:

Petko Karavelov Petko Stoichev KaravelovFrederick B. Chary, ''The History of Bulgaria'', ABC-CLIO, 2011, p. 181 ( bg, Петко Стойчев Каравелов; 24 March 1843 – 24 January 1903) was a leading Bulgarian liberal politician who served as Prime M ...

Aleksandar Malinov Aleksandar Pavlov Malinov ( bg, Александър Павлов Малинов) (3 May 1867 – 20 March 1938) was a leading Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister on three occasions. He was born in Pandakli, Bessarabia (presen ...

Nikola Mushanov Nikola Stoykov Mushanov ( bg, Никола Стойков Мушанов) (12 April 1872 in Dryanovo – 10 May 1951) was a Bulgarian liberal politician who served as Prime Minister and leader of the Democratic Party. He later became noted f ...

** Progressive Liberal Party:

Dragan Tsankov Dragan Kiriakov Tsankov ( bg, Драган Киряков Цанков) (9 November 1828 – 24 March 1911) was a Bulgarian politician and the first Liberal Party Prime Minister of the country. He was born in Svishtov. Tsankov was initially ...

Stoyan Danev Stoyan Petrov Danev ( bg, Стоян Петров Данев) (28 January 1858, in Şumnu, Ottoman Empire (today Shumen) – 30 July 1949) was a leading Bulgarian liberal politician and twice Prime Minister. A legal graduate of both the Univ ...

** People's Liberal Party:

Stefan Stambolov Stefan Nikolov Stambolov ( bg, Стефан Николов Стамболов) (31 January 1854 OS– 19 July 1895 OS) was a Bulgarian politician, journalist, revolutionary, and poet who served as Prime Minister and regent. He is consider ...

- Dimitar Petkov ** Radoslavist Liberal Party:

Vasil Radoslavov Vasil Hristov Radoslavov ( bg, Васил Христов Радославов) (27 July 1854 – 21 October 1929) was a leading Bulgarian liberal politician who twice served as Prime Minister. He was Premier of the country throughout most ...

* Post-communist period *

Zhelyu Zhelev Zhelyu Mitev Zhelev ( bg, Желю Митев Желев; 3 March 1935 – 30 January 2015) was a Bulgarian politician and former dissident who served as the first non-Communist President of Bulgaria from 1990 to 1997. Zhelev was one of the mos ...

Ahmed Dogan Ahmed Demir Dogan ( bg, Ахмед Демир Доган; born 29 March 1954), born Ahmed Ismailov Ahmedov (), is a Bulgarian oligarch and politician of Turkish ethnicity. He was chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) from 1990 t ...

- Simeon Sakskoburggotski - Ognyan Gerdzhikov