Following a wave of democratization in Eastern Europe in 1989, dictator Todor Zhivkov was forced to resign on 10 November, succeeded by Petar Mladenov.

The following month the Communist Party announced it was giving up power and began a series of round table talks with the opposition on the transition to democracy.

For most of the PRB's existence, all effective executive political power was in the hands of the General Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

Finally, on 1 August a compromise was reached and Zhelyu Zhelev, until then leader of the opposition party, the Union of Democratic Forces, was elected chairman.

[5] Zhelev was in office until he was sworn in on 22 January 1992 as President of Bulgaria, under the new constitution, following his direct election by the public three days before.