17 Facts About Zhelyu Zhelev

Zhelyu Mitev Zhelev was a Bulgarian politician and former dissident who served as the first non-Communist President of Bulgaria from 1990 to 1997.

Zhelyu Zhelev lost his party's nomination for his 1996 reelection campaign after losing a tough primary race to Petar Stoyanov.

Zhelyu Zhelev was born in 1935 into a modest village family in Veselinovo in north-eastern Bulgaria.

Zhelyu Zhelev studied philosophy at Sofia University, graduating in 1958 and gaining a PhD in 1974, a remarkable achievement given that he was under a cloud as a dissident, having been expelled from the Communist Party in 1965.

Zhelyu Zhelev was a member of the Bulgarian Communist Party, but was expelled from it for political reasons in 1965.

Zhelyu Zhelev was unemployed for six years since all employment in Bulgaria was state-regulated.

In 1988, just before the Fall of Communism, Zhelyu Zhelev founded the Ruse Committee, and in 1989 he became a founding member and chairman of the Club for Support of Openness and the Reform, which helped him to achieve the position of Chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Union of Democratic Forces party.

Zhelyu Zhelev was elected MP in June 1990 for the 7th Grand National Assembly; the Assembly's main goal was to create a new democratic Constitution of Bulgaria.

Zhelyu Zhelev thus became the first head of state in 44 years who was not either a Communist or fellow traveler.

Zhelyu Zhelev immediately suspended his membership in the UDF; the new constitution did not allow the president to be a formal member of a political party during his term.

Zhelyu Zhelev sought a second term in 1996, but lost the UDF nomination to eventual winner Petar Stoyanov.

Zhelyu Zhelev became Honorary Chair of the Liberal Democratic Union and Honorary Chair of the Liberal International and in 1997 went on to establish and preside over a foundation named after him.

Zhelyu Zhelev was the initiator and president of the Balkan Political Club, a union of former political leaders from Southeast Europe.

In 2009, Zhelyu Zhelev voiced his opinion that Bulgaria should adopt a presidential system based upon the French model: "The country should have both prime minister and president, but the latter should be vested in far-reaching powers so that he may control the executive power".

Zhelyu Zhelev died in Sofia at the age of 79 on 30 January 2015.

Zhelyu Zhelev served as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project.

On 15 January 2010, Zhelyu Zhelev received the Macedonian state Order 8-September for his contribution to the recognition of the independence of the Republic of Macedonia from the former Yugoslavia.