<item><hi format=bold>Administrative divisions:</hi> 9 provinces (oblasti, singular—oblast); Burgas, Grad Sofiya, Khaskovo, Lovech, Montana, Plovdiv, Ruse, Sofiya, Varna
<item><hi format=bold>Independence:</hi> 22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)
<item><hi format=bold>National holiday:</hi> Independence Day 3 March (1878)
<item><hi format=bold>Constitution:</hi> adopted 12 July 1991
<item><hi format=bold>Legal system:</hi> based on civil law system, with Soviet law influence; has accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
<item><hi format=bold>Suffrage:</hi> 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
<item><hi format=bold>Executive branch:</hi>
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>chief of state:</hi> President Zhelyu Mitev ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990); Vice President (vacant); election last held January 1992; results—Zhelyu ZHELEV was elected by popular vote
<item>• <hi format=ital>head of government:</hi> Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) Lyuben Borisov BEROV (since 30 December 1992); Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Deputy Prime Minister) Evgeniy MATINCHEV (since 30 December 1992)
<item>• <hi format=ital>cabinet:</hi> Council of Ministers; elected by the National Assembly
<item><hi format=bold>National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie):</hi> last held 13 October 1991; results—UDF (and breakaway factions) 34%, BSP 33%, MRF 7.5%; seats—(240 total) UDF 110, BSP 106, Movement for Rights and Freedoms 24
<list style=hang>
<item>• <hi format=ital>note:</hi> the UDF split in March 1993 to form the New Union for Democracy (NUD) with 18 seats, and the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) with 92 seats
<item><hi format=bold>Political parties and leaders:</hi> Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Filip DIMITROV, chairman, an alliance of approximately 20 pro-Democratic parties including United Democratic Center, Democratic Party, Radical Democratic Party, Christian Democratic Union, Alternative Social Liberal Party, Republican Party, Civic Initiative Movement, and about a dozen other groups; Movement for Rights and Freedoms (mainly ethnic Turkish party) (MRF), Ahmed DOGAN, chairman; Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Zhan VIDENOV, chairman; New Union for Democracy (NUD), Dimitar LUDZHEV, chairman
<item><hi format=bold>Other political or pressure groups:</hi> Ecoglasnost; Podkrepa (Support) Labor Confederation; Fatherland Union; Bulgarian Democratic Youth (formerly Communist Youth Union); Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB); Nationwide Committee for Defense of National Interests; Peasant Youth League; Bulgarian Agrarian National Union—United (BZNS); Bulgarian Democratic Center; "Nikola Petkov" Bulgarian Agrarian National Union; Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization—Union of Macedonian Societies (IMRO-UMS); numerous regional, ethnic, and national interest groups with various agendas
<item><hi format=bold>Flag:</hi> three equal horizontal bands of white (top), green, and red; the national emblem formerly on the hoist side of the white stripe has been removed—it contained a rampant lion within a wreath of wheat ears below a red five-pointed star and above a ribbon bearing the dates 681 (first Bulgarian state established) and 1944 (liberation from Nazi control)