Bulgarian Parliament Ousts Head of State

SOFIA, Bulgaria--The Bulgarian Parliament yesterday ousted former Communist leader Todor Zhivkov as head of state and approved a series of government changes that forced out several Zhivkov supporters and put reformers into positions of power.

The 400-member National Assembly voted unanimously by a show of hands to oust Zhivkov and to replace him with Petar Mladenov, who took over from Zhivkov as party chief last week. Deputies praised Mladenov for his "enthusiasm" for perestroika, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev's reform program.

On Thursday, the Communist Party Central Committee dismissed three hard-line Politburo members and installed four politicians likely to support Mladanov, 53, in implementing reforms.

About 10,000 people rallied outside parliament yesterday, demanding that Zhivkov be tried in court on allegations he amassed a fortune while Bulgaria's economy deteriorated.

The crowd at the state-sponsored rally loudly cheered deputy Slavcho Trnski, who launched an unprecedented attack on Zhivkov during the parliament session. Marchers carrying banners for perestroika and waving Bulgarian flags chanted, "Zhivkov to court.

Trnski's speech was the first harsh public criticism of Zhivkov, 78, who gained power shortly after Josef Stalin's death with the aid of the Soviet dictator's supporters, and ran the country in a rigid, Stalinist fashion. The attack also came during the first-ever live television broadcast of a Bulgarian Parliament session.

Trnski accused the former leader of having led the country into deep economic crisis while leading a "flamboyant lifestyle." He called for the "real truth" to come out about Zhivkov, who he said owned 30 homes around the country and had retained power through a policy of "divide and rule."

Mladenov has said he will implement sweeping political and economic reforms but has not offered specifics. He said the "new socialist Bulgaria" will have more respect "for [human] rights and freedom for all Bulgarians."

The new leader also called on the unicameral parliament--traditionally a rubber-stamp body for party decisions--to take a more active role in "controlling" party and government work.

The parliament, he said, has been "deprived of its legal rights...[and] turned into a facade of people's power."

"The structures of the command and bureaucratic system are beginning to shake," Mladenov was quoted as saying. "The administrative idols of yesterday are going to pieces."

In a hint of impending reform under Mladenov, legislators removed article 273 of the penal code, which was broadly used to punish anyone deemed to have slandered the state or Communist Party. This means that independent groups, which have in the past have been harrassed by police, will have more freedom.

The National Assembly also created an Ecology Ministry to address environmental concerns raised by one of those groups, Ecoglasnost.

Dropped from the government yesterday were Petko Danchev, a deputy premier, and Stoyan Ovcharov, minister of economy and planning Both were Zhikov supporters who were ousted as non-voting members of the Politburo on Thursday.

Stoyan Mihailov, a reformer who was removed from the Central Committee and stripped of his ideology portfolio under Zhivkov last year, was made minister of eduction and culture. Some observers say that post could prove to be important as Mladenov seeks to garner support from intellectuals in carrying out reforms.

Nikolai Dankerov was appointed to head the new Ecology Ministry, and Voyko Dimitrov was named Mladenov's successor as foreign minister.