Bulgarian Fatherland Front

The Fatherland Front (Bulgarian: Отечествен фронт, ОФ; Otečestven Front, OF) began as a Bulgarian Bolshevik political resistance movement during World War II. The Zveno movement, the communist Bulgarian Workers Party, a wing of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union and the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers Party, were all part of the OF. The constituent groups of the OF had widely contrasting ideologies and had united only in the face of the pro-German militarist dictatorship in Bulgaria. At the beginning, the members of the OF worked together, without a single dominating group. Professional associations and unions could be members of the front and maintain their organisational independence. However, the Bulgarian Communist Party soon began to dominate. In 1944, after the Soviet Union had declared war on Bulgaria, the OF committed a coup d'état and they declared war on Germany and the other Axis nations. The OF government, headed by Kimon Georgiev (Zveno), immediately signed a ceasefire treaty with the Soviet Union.

Fatherland Front

Отечествен фронт
FoundedJuly 17, 1942 (1942-07-17)
Dissolved1989
Succeeded byОтечествен съюз (Fatherland Union)
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism-Leninism
Stalinism
Political positionFar-left
Party flag

On November 18, 1945, it won a large majority after being the only party or alliance listed on the ballot.[1] In 1946 Georgiev resigned and his successor was Georgi Dimitrov, leader of the communists, and Bulgaria became a People's Republic. It eventually transformed into a wide-ranging popular front under overall Communist control, and all member parties except the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union dissolved. With the end of Communism in 1989 it was dissolved.

Chairmen of the National Council
  • Georgi Dimitrov - 1949
  • Encho Stajkov - 1957 - May 1967
  • Boyan Bulgaranov - May 1967 - April 1972
  • Georgi Traikov - 1972 - 1974
  • Pencho Kubadinski - 1974 - 1989
  • Zhivko Zhivkov - 1989 - April 1, 1990

Electoral history

Grand National Assembly elections
Election Votes % Seats +/–
1949 4,588,996 100%
241 / 241
 241
1953 4,981,594 99.8%
249 / 249
 8
1957 5,204,027 100%
247 / 247
 2
1962 5,461,224 100%
321 / 321
 74
1966 5,744,072 100%
414 / 414
 93
1971 6,154,082 100%
400 / 400
 14
1976 6,369,762 100%
400 / 400
1981 6,519,674 100%
400 / 400
1986 6,639,562 100%
400 / 400
1990 only Constituencies
2 / 400
 398
gollark: Oh, TJ09...
gollark: In the end, *someone* has to be.
gollark: (Inevitably, though, I'd end up spending ages agonizing over to cooperate or defect and just get eaten)
gollark: I'd quite like to be able to get upside-down mints.
gollark: It'd be *harder* to make them different on the lineage and view pages!

References
  1. Jessup, John E. (1989). A Chronology of Conflict and Resolution, 1945-1985. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-24308-5.
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