On the 10th of February 1847 – in Tarnovo was opened the Constituent Assembly convened to develop the first Constitution of the Principality of Bulgaria.

On the 10th of February 1847 – in Tarnovo was opened the Constituent Assembly convened to develop the first Constitution of the Principality of Bulgaria.

According to some, the number of deputies in this First National Assembly is 231, according to others – 229. They were elected according to a system with three phases – 88 were elected directly by the population, 117 received their mandate thanks to the senior administrative position they held, 19 were appointed by the Russian Imperial Commissar in the Principality of Bulgaria, Prince Al. М. Dondukov-Korsakov, and 5 were representatives of national organizations – the Rila Monastery, the Bulgarian Board of Trustees in Odessa and the Viennese Bulgarians.

The former Bulgarian Exarch and Metropolitan of Vidin Antim I was elected chairman of the Constituent Assembly, and Petko Karavelov and Todor Ikonomov were elected vice-chairmen.

Delegates of the Bulgarian people who remained outside the borders of the Berlin Treaty went to Tarnovo and gathered in the Church of “St. Nichola”. Among them is the representative of Macedonia, Stefan Stambolov. The Constitution is approved a few months later, on the 16th of April 1879.


Text: Мариана Първанова