Mandate

  • November 3, 1996

    In the second round of the presidential election, presidential candidate Petar Stoyanov and vice presidential candidate Todor Kavaldzhiev received 59.76% of the vote (2,502,517 votes).

  • January 19, 1997

    The newly elected President Petar Stoyanov and Vice President Todor Kavaldzhiev took the oath of office in the National Assembly.

    January 22, 1997

    Petar Stoyanov and Todor Kavaldzhiev officially assumed office as President and Vice President of the Republic of Bulgaria.

    February 4, 1997 10.00 am

    Georgi Parvanov – leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Nikolay Dobrev – candidate for Prime Minister of the BSP, handed over to the President a folder with the proposal for a new Cabinet, nominated by the Socialist Party. President Stoyanov refused to take the folder and convened a National Security Advisory Council.

    February 4, 1997 6.47 pm

    Under pressure from the President and all other political forces, BSP withdrew the proposal, opening the door to new parliamentary elections.

    February 12, 1997

    President Stoyanov appointed a Caretaker government with Prime Minister Stefan Sofiyanski and called early parliamentary elections for April 19, 1997.

    February 17, 1997

    At the explicit request by the President, the Caretaker Cabinet prepared the application for Bulgaria's membership of NATO.

    February 27 – March 1, 1997

    State visit to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

    March 18, 1997

    Under the auspices of the President, representatives of all political forces from the outgoing 37th National Assembly, adopted a declaration authorizing the Cabinet to sign an agreement with the IMF for the introduction of a currency board in Bulgaria.

    May 1 – 3, 1997

    State visit to France on the invitation of French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Alain Juppe.

    May 14, 1997

    Presented Ivan Kostov, leader of the Union of Democratic Forces, with a mandate to form a new cabinet.

    July 8 – 9, 1997

    At the NATO Madrid Summit President Stoynov officially submitted Bulgaria's application for NATO membership and met with US President Bill Clinton.

    October 3, 1997

    President Stoyanov welcomed the Turkish President Suleyman Demirel and Romanian President Emil Constantinescu to Varna, Bulgaria, starting the trilateral meetings Bulgaria-Romania-Turkey and Bulgaria-Romania-Greece. Turkey and Greece became advocates for Bulgaria and Romania’s membership of NATO.

  • January 23, 1998

    On the initiative of President Stoyanov, Bulgaria was invited for the first time to the Presidential meeting of the Central European Initiative (Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary). The meeting venue was in Slovakia.

    February 6 – 13, 1998

    State visit to the United States on the invitation of US President Bill Clinton.

    May 8-13, 1998

    State visit to the People's Republic of China on the invitation of President Jiang Zemin.

    August 27-30, 1998

    State visit to Russia; Meeting with President Boris Yeltsin.

    September 16, 1998

    Invited by US President Bill Clinton, along with Tony Blair and Romano Prodi, to open the Academic Year at New York University.

    September 30 – October 2, 1998

    State visit to the Netherlands and meeting with Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Prime Minister Wim Kok.

    October 11, 1998

    Received in Sofia the First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton, who opened the conference “Women in the 21st Century”, organized by Mrs. Antonina Stoyanova.

    October 25-30, 1998

    State visit to India; Meetings with President Narayanan and Prime Minister Vajpayee.

    November 6, 1998

    First official visit of the Prince of Wales to Bulgaria on the invitation of President Stoyanov: Prince Charles visited Sofia and Plovdiv.

  • April 13, 1999

    State visit to Bulgaria of the President of Austria Thomas Klestil.

    April 22, 1999

    President Stoyanov attended the NATO Summit in Washington DC.

    May 18, 1999

    Official visit of Tony Blair to Bulgaria – first visit to Bulgaria by a British Prime Minister.

    July 12-15, 1999

    State visit to Spain on the invitation of the King of Spain, His Majesty Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia; Meeting with Prime Minister Aznar.

    October 6-8, 1999

    State visit to Bulgaria by the Queen of the Netherlands; Her Majesty Queen Beatrix and her husband Prince Claus.

    November 21-23, 1999

    State visit to Bulgaria by US President Bill Clinton – the first visit of an American President to Bulgaria.

  • January 17, 2000

    State visit to Israel on the invitation of President Ezer Weizman; Meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres.

    January 18, 2000

    Talks with the President of the Palestinian Authority and Head of the PLO Yasser Arafat.

    April 17-18, 2000

    State visit to Germany on the invitation of President Johannes Rau; Meeting with the Prime Minister of Bavaria Edmund Stoiber.

    May 15-16, 2000

    State visit to Skopje on the invitation of President Boris Trajkovski – the first visit of a Bulgarian head of state to the Republic of Macedonia.

    August 3-5, 2000

    State visit to the Republic of Turkey on the invitation of President Ahmet Sezer: Talks with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.

    October 17-20, 2000

    State visit to Bulgaria by Her Majesty Margrethe II – Queen of Denmark and her husband Prince Henrik. The royal couple visited Sofia and Plovdiv.

    November 9-11, 2000

    State visit to Bulgaria by His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf – King of Sweden and Queen Silvia. The royal couple visited Sofia and Plovdiv.

    December 4-6, 2000

    State visit to Greece on the invitation of President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos; Meeting with Prime Minister Costas Simitis.

    December 11, 2000

    President Petar Stoyanov signed a decree posthumously awarding Ilia Minev, having served a long political sentence and the great Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov, with the highest Bulgarian state honour, the Stara Planina Order first degree, for their remarkable and principled public stand against the communist regime in Bulgaria.

    December 29, 2000

    According to a survey by the Bulgarian National Center for Public-Opinion Research, Petar Stoyanov was named “Person of the century”, and the fall of communism “the event of the century”.

  • March 5-6, 2001

    State visit to the Kingdom of Belgium on the invitation of His Majesty King Albert II; Meetings with the royal family and Prime Minister Guy Verhovstadt.

    March 7, 2001

    State visit to Luxembourg on the invitation of Their Royal Highnesses Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa; Meeting with Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

    July 25-26, 2001

    State visit to the United Kingdom; Meeting at Buckingham Palace with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and with Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street.

    August 25, 2001

    State visit to Bulgaria by His Majesty Abdullah II – King of Jordan and his wife Queen Rania.

    October 4, 2001

    President Petar Stoyanov and NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson opened the NATO Candidate countries summit in Sofia (Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia).

    November 18, 2001

    In the second round of the presidential elections Petar Stoyanov lost against the candidate of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Georgi Parvanov with 45.87% against 54.13%.

    December 20. 2001

    State visit to Monaco on the invitation of H.S.H. Prince Rainier III; Meetings with Prince Rainier III, Crown Prince Albert and Prime Minister Patrick Leclerc.

  • January 22, 2002

    At an official ceremony Petar Stoyanov handed over powers to the newly elected President Georgi Parvanov and left the Office in Dondukov 2.