Georgi Parvanov

Georgi Parvanov (1957- ), Bulgarian politician, President of Bulgaria (2002- ). Parvanov was born on June 28, 1957, in Sirishtnik, in the Pernik province of Bulgaria. He was educated at the University of Sofia, from where he graduated with a history degree in 1981. He joined the Institute of History of the Bǎlgarska Komunističeska Partija (BKP; Bulgarian Communist Party) while continuing his research into the history of Bulgarian social democracy and the national question, gaining his doctorate in 1988.

In 1990 the BKP renamed itself the Bǎlgarska Socialističeska Partija (BSP; Bulgarian Socialist Party), and Parvanov was elected to its executive body the following year. Between 1992 and 1996 he also worked as director of the centre for history and policy studies of the BSP. Parvanov argued for the transformation of the BSP into a social democratic party, supporting membership of NATO and the European Union. The strategy was successful, and the party was elected to government in 1994, with Parvanov himself becoming a member of the National Assembly for the first time. He was elected chairman of the BSP in December 1996 (though Zhan Videnov remained prime minister). Following the collapse of the government in January 1997, Parvanov went against his party by agreeing to relinquish the BSP mandate in order to allow fresh elections. Held in April, they were won by the Saiuz na Demokratichnite Sili (SDS; Union of Democratic Forces); Ivan Kostov, president of the SDS, became prime minister. Parvanov was re-elected chairman of the BSP in 1998 and 2001, and served as leader of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Left (a coalition encompassing the BSP) between 1997 and 2001.

In the presidential election of November 2001 Parvanov defeated incumbent Petar Stoyanov, of the SDS, gaining 53 per cent of the vote in the runoff. On his election as president (a largely ceremonial post) Parvanov resigned from the BSP, and was succeeded as chairman by Sergey Stanishev. In October 2006, Parvanov won a second term as president by beating the controversial nationalist candidate Volen Siderov.