site.btaObservances: March 5

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1879: First vote by secret ballot in the Bulgarian Parliament.

1900: First mass rally is held in Varna against the restoration of tithing.

1927: Rabotnichesko Delo, the mouthpiece of the legal Bulgarian Workers' Party, is launched. Renamed Duma on April 4, 1990.

1973: Diplomatic relations established with Niger.

1991: The national currency, the lev, is officially proclaimed nonconvertible as Bulgaria joins Art. 14 of the Statute of the International Monetary Fund.

2001: Balkan Airlines loses air carrier's licence.