Zhelyu Zhelev

President of Bulgaria

Zhelyu Mitev Zhelev 3 March 1935 Veselinovo, Kingdom of Bulgaria

30 January 2015(2015-01-30) (79) Sofia, Bulgaria

22 January 1992 – 22 January 1997

President of Bulgaria This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Zhelyu Zhelev" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2014 ) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In this Eastern Slavic naming convention, the patronymic is Mitev and the family name is Zhelev. Part of a series onLiberalism History Age of Enlightenment List of liberal theorists (contributions to liberal theory) Ideas Liberal democracy Economic liberalism Equality Gender Legal Freedom Market Press Religion Speech Trade Harm principle Internationalism Invisible hand Laissez-faire Liberty Negative Positive Market economy Non-aggression principle Open society Permissive society Popular sovereignty Private property Rights Civil and political Natural and legal Rule of law Secularism Separation of church and state Social contract Veil of ignorance Schools of thought Classical Conservative Cultural Democratic Feminist Equity Green Internationalist Muscular National Neo Ordo Radical Radical centrism Religious Christian Catholic Islamic Jewish Secular Social Techno Philosophers Acton Arnold Aron Badawi Bastiat Bentham Berlin Burke Čapek Cassirer Collingwood Condorcet Constant Croce Emerson Friedman Guizot Hayek Hu Humboldt Kant Keynes Korais Kymlicka List Locke Martineau Mill Milton Mises Montesquieu Nozick Ortega Paine Popper Priestley Rawls Ricardo Say Sen Smith Spencer Spinoza Staël Tocqueville Turgot Voltaire Weber Wollstonecraft Politicians Artigas Bright Broglie Cavour Cobden Deák Deakin George Gladstone Gokhale Itagaki Jefferson Juárez Kemal King Kołłątaj Kossuth Lamartine Levski Lincoln Macaulay Madison Mazzini Milyukov Mommsen Naoroji Ohlin Pearson Rathenau Roosevelt Sarmiento Ståhlberg Venizelos Organizations Africa Liberal Network Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Arab Liberal Federation Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats European Democratic Party European Liberal Youth European Party for Individual Liberty International Alliance of Libertarian Parties International Federation of Liberal Youth Liberal International Liberal Network for Latin America Liberal parties Liberal South East European Network Regional variants Europe Latin America Albania Armenia Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Bulgaria Canada China Chile Colombia Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech lands Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Venizelism Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Iran Israel Italy Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Mexico Moldova Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Senegal Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain South Africa South Korea Sweden Switzerland Thailand Tunisia Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Cobdenism Gladstonian Manchester Whiggism United States Arizona School Classical Jeffersonian Modern Uruguay Venezuela Zimbabwe Related topics Anti-authoritarianism Anti-communism Bias in academia Bias in the media Capitalism Democratic Centrism Economic freedom Egalitarianism Empiricism Humanism Individualism Anarchist Libertarianism Left Right Pirate Party Progressivism Utilitarianism  Liberalism portal  Politics portalvte Zhelyu Mitev Zhelev (Bulgarian: Желю Митев Желев ; 3 March 1935 – 30 January 2015) was a Bulgarian politician and former dissident who served as the first non-Communist President of Bulgaria from 1990 to 1997. Zhelev was one of the most prominent figures of the 1989 Bulgarian Revolution, which ended the 35 year rule of President Todor Zhivkov. A member of the Union of Democratic Forces, he was elected as President by the 7th Grand National Assembly. Two years later, he won Bulgaria's first direct presidential elections. He lost his party's nomination for his 1996 reelection campaign after losing a tough primary race to Petar Stoyanov.