Stanko Todorov

Stanko Todorov Georgiev (Bulgarian: Станко Георгиев Тодоров; born December 10, 1920 in Klenowik, Oblast Pernik, † December 17, 1996 in Sofia) was a Bulgarian politician and former Prime Minister, Parliament Speaker and acting President.

Life

Officer and resistance fighter in World War II

After school he initially found no work and joined in 1936 at the time of the illegal Communist Youth League on. From 1940 to 1941 he was a member of the leadership of the Communist trade union. In 1941 he became a member of the Committee of the Youth League of Sofia Province.

Shortly afterwards, he was drafted for military service, but from which he deserted little later. Then he joined during the Second World War, the resistance movement against the pro - German government of Bogdan Filow. During this time he was an emissary of the Youth League in the bar of the combat group of partisans in the area of Sofia. In 1943 he was a member of the Bulgarian Communist Party ( Balgarska Komunisticeska Partija ( BKP ) ) was added.

In February 1944, he was wounded and taken prisoner in a skirmish action. On March 30, 1944, however, it already managed to escape, after which he immediately joined the resistance group. On 9 September 1944 in the coup of the Patriotic Front, he took part. The government then used the Fatherland Front of Kimon Georgiev managed through negotiations in Moscow the closing of a ceasefire.

Still in 1945 he became a member of the Central Committee of the Youth League and its secretary in Sofia.

People's Republic of Bulgaria

After the founding of the People's Republic of Bulgaria on 15 September 1946, he rose to within the nomenklatura of the BCP and the government.

In 1950 he became a member of the Committee of the BKP of Sofia Province. 1952 he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in the government of Wulko Chervenkov. This office he held also in the subsequent government of Anton Jugow to 1957.

In 1954 he was elected a deputy of the 2nd Grand National Assembly, which he then belonged to the 9th election period in 1990. In the same year he was also elected member of the Central Committee (CC ) of the BKP. In 1959 he was elected as a candidate of the Politburo of the Central Committee and his appointment as chairman of the State Planning Commission.

In 1962 he was Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee. He was a member of the governing body of the closest BKP.

Ministers, Parliament and President

On July 17, 1971, he was was as successor to Todor Zhivkov, Chairman of the State Council, Chairman of the Council of Ministers. This office he held until his replacement by the former Central Committee Secretary Grisha Filipov on 17 June 1981. President Zhivkov wanted to promote through them the necessary economic reforms. Todorov himself became chairman of the Grand National Assembly and thus transferred to the representative office of the President of Parliament.

However, a position he later used extensively to achieve the in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev initiated reform process of perestroika and glasnost in Bulgaria and thus belonged to the reformist wing within the BKP. In the disempowerment of Todor Zhivkov on 17 November 1989, he played a decisive role.

After the reform process began, he resigned as President of the Parliament on 3 April 1990. On April 24, 1990, he joined the Balgarska to Sozialistitscheska Partija (BSP ) renamed BKP, its vice- president, he remained until 1994.

On July 6, 1990, he was following the resignation of Petar Mladenov Acting President. After only eleven days in office, he handed the office for a fortnight to Nikolay Todorov. In the first free elections in 1990 he was elected a deputy of the National Assembly, but soon withdrew it for health reasons from political life back.

In 1994, he was, like many other leading politicians of the Zhivkov era charged with corruption and embezzlement of public funds, but acquitted in 1996 by the Supreme Court.