Parvanov, Georgi

▪ president of Bulgaria

in full  Georgi Sedefchov Parvanov 

born June 28, 1957, Sirishtnik, Bulg.

      Bulgarian politician who was elected president in 2001. He was the first former communist to be elected president since the fall of communism in the country and the first head of state to ever be reelected.

      Parvanov obtained a master's degree in history from Sofia University in 1981. In the same year, he became a member of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) and started a decade-long research position at the party's Institute of History. He obtained a doctorate in 1988 and became a senior research associate in 1989. As the decade came to a close, the BCP ousted its leader and renamed itself the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). In 1991 Parvanov entered electoral politics and by 1994 was the deputy chairman of the BSP Supreme Council and a member of parliament. Parvanov was elected chairman of the party in 1996 and reelected in 2000. His ability to regroup the party after a poor electoral showing in 1996 and bring together its factions secured his position within the party leadership and made him popular among rank-and-file Bulgarians. Running on a platform supporting Bulgaria's inclusion in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union (EU), Parvanov successfully ran for president in 2001, defeating incumbent Peter Stoyanov.

      Parvanov announced that to take partisanship out of the presidency and represent all Bulgarians, he would not continue his membership in the BSP. As president, Parvanov moved forward with plans to formally join NATO. And with his assistance, Bulgaria's membership in the EU was made official on Jan. 1, 2007. In addition to pursuing closer ties with the West, Parvanov worked to rekindle relations with former allies Russia and Ukraine.

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