The government of the so-called “Democratic Entente” (Demokrati è eski Zgovor), which occurred as a reaction to that of the murdered Stambolijski, under the presidency of A. Cankov (June 1923), neither did it last long. Serious discontent continued to spread among the masses, excited and bewildered by the tragic conditions of the nation’s political, economic and financial life and by the fierce factions of parties, through which parliamentary life continued to laboriously unfold. In September 1923 a violent communist uprising had been vigorously bloodily suppressed by Cankov’s government; in 1925 an infernal machine had blown up the vault of the church of Santa Nedelja in Sofia, where the highest political and military representatives of the state were gathered for a funeral ceremony tsar), causing horrible havoc to those in attendance. Meanwhile, among the Macedonians themselves, already so admirably organized in their revolutionary committee, the worm of discord had penetrated and, progressively making its way into the excited minds, had divided them into two opposing camps, which, resorting to extreme means of struggle (the assassination of Todor Aleksandrov opened the sad series of murders between the two Macedonian parties), in a few years they wreaked havoc in the very ranks of the revolutionaries, irreparably ruining the common ideal and destroying all trust in the followers and sympathizers of the movement inside and outside the ‘abroad. For Bulgaria government and politics, please check a2zgov.com.
Cankov had to resign in 1926. He was succeeded by Andrew Lyapčev, who remained in power until 1931, and Nicola Mušanov, who remained there until 1934, both Democrats.
But the general conditions did not change under their governments. Above all, the discord and the fierceness of the struggles of political factions made the situation unsustainable and paralyzed public life. The general state of unease became stronger and stronger, accompanied by a growing mistrust not only towards the rulers in power, but towards the whole system of parliamentary government, which proved to be more and more unsuitable for governing. And so came the political upheaval of May 19, 1934, when the army itself rose up to entrust power to a group of citizens called, from the name of the magazine that reflected their ideas, Zveno (“Chain link”) and which had to clean up all the parties and factions that had tormented and torn the country for so many years, in order to establish a system of government outside and above the parties, with a program of unification all internal and conciliation abroad, towards all neighbors. At the head of this government was the ex-army colonel Kimon Georgiev. Former colonel Damjan Vălčev, who had been the soul of the revolt, did not enter the government, although he actively participated behind the scenes.
Parliament was closed and the government went feverishly to work, vigorously initiating a series of reforms and measures intended to carry out its program and dissolving, to facilitate the policy of conciliation with neighbors, all irredentist organizations, starting with that Macedonian. After the signing in Athens of the Balkan pact between Yugoslavia, Turkey, Romania and Greece in that same year, Bulgaria, despite having by now renounced its irredentist aspirations, refused, as was natural, to adhere to a pact that it implied not only the material renunciation of land, but the disavowal of the national ideal, and he began his policy of conciliation with his neighbors starting with the largest of them: Yugoslavia.
Meanwhile, the internal life of Bulgaria, after the coup d’etat of May 19, 1934, had undergone significant new shocks in a vain search for settlement. The government of K. Georgiev, aiming at excessive limitations of the rights of the crown and of the parliament, had soon displeased the same military who had brought him to power and had to resign. The army then deluded itself into dealing with the situation by entrusting the main ministries to the military, with General Zlatev, Minister of War, as president. But he was soon convinced of his mistake and, acknowledging the incompetence of the military in the direction of political life, he gave up on further ingesting it and left the head of state with the care and responsibility of organizing the government of the country, which is excluded by the way., any return to the deadly factional regime of the past. Thus, at first there was a brief Tosev government, then G. Kiosejvanov came to power, diplomat, a trusted man of the Tsar, who, having assumed the foreign portfolio and the presidency of the council in October 1935, resumed the cornerstones of the coup of 1934, concluding in January 1937 a pact of “eternal friendship” with Yugoslavia, persevering in the policy of conciliation and peace abroad and within and promulgating in October 1937 the new political electoral law, the whose spirit is the application of a constitutional regime that makes the national assembly an organ not of government, but of control, without restoring political parties.
Historical event not devoid of political reflections, even if in itself extraneous to any political program, was in 1930 the marriage of Tsar Boris with Princess Giovanna of Savoy, greeted with enthusiasm by the nation, who felt in it a reason for strengthening the dynasty and the country’s international position.
