site.btaSeptember 15, 1946: 26th National Assembly Declares Bulgaria People's Republic

After Bulgaria's surrender to the Allies in World War II, the Communist Party purged opposition figures in the Fatherland Front, exiled young King Simeon II, and rigged elections to consolidate power.

On July 26, 1946, the 26th National Assembly adopted a bill on a referendum to abolish the monarchy and establish a people's democratic republic in Bulgaria. It also resolved to convene a Grand National Assembly.
The bill on the referendum was moved on July 25, 1946 and was adopted the next day unanimously, by a roll call by the 244 deputies. 32 MPs were on leave and were absent.

The referendum itself was held on September 8, 1946. 92.72% of the voters backed the ending of the monarchy and the declaring of Bulgaria a people's republic. King Simeon II and the queen mother were required to leave the country.

On September 15, 1946, the 26th National Assembly declared Bulgaria a people's republic.

Elections for a Grand National Assembly to prepare a new constitution were held on October 27, 1946. The noncommunist opposition polled more than one million votes, or 28% of the total. When the assembly opened in November, Agrarian leader Nikola Petkov emerged as the opposition’s principal spokesman. However, he was charged with plotting to overthrow the government and was expelled from the Grand National Assembly along with most of his associates.

In 1947, the Allied military left Bulgaria, and the government declared the country a communist state. Forty-two years of totalitarian rule followed. All democratic opposition was crushed, agriculture and industry were nationalized, and Bulgaria became one of the closest Soviet Union allies.