Zhelyu Zhelev was born on 3 March 1935 in Veselinovo village, Shumen. He graduated with a degree in philosophy from the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" in 1958, and later earned a Ph.D. in 1974.
Dissident
Zhelev was a member of the Bulgarian Communist Party, but was expelled from it for political reasons in 1965. He was unemployed for six years since all employment in Bulgaria was state-regulated. In 1982, he published his controversial work, "The Fascism". Three weeks after the volume's publication in 1982, it was banned and removed from the bookstores and libraries throughout the nation, as it likened the Soviet style socialist state to the fascist states of Italy, Germany and Spain before, during, and after World War II.
SDS
In 1988, just before the Fall of Communism, Zhelev founded the Ruse Committee, and in 1989 he became a founding member and chairman of the Club for Support of Openness and the Reform, which helped him to achieve the position of Chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Union of Democratic Forces party.
Under the new constitution adopted in July 1991, the president was to be elected directly by voters, for a maximum of two terms. The first such election was held in January 1992. Zhelev won in the runoff against Velko Valkanov with 52.8% of the votes to become Bulgaria's first directly elected head of state. He immediately suspended his membership in the UDF; the new constitution did not allow the president to be a formal member of a political party during his term.
1996 presidential election
Zhelev sought a second term in 1996, but lost the UDF nomination to eventual winner Petar Stoyanov.
Later political career
After his defeat in the 1996 UDF primaries and after the end of his presidency in 1997, Zhelev remained in politics, but on a much smaller scale. He became Honorary Chair of the Liberal Democratic Union and Honorary Chair of the Liberal International and in 1997 went on to establish and preside over a foundation named after him. Zhelev was the initiator and president of the Balkan Political Club, a union of former political leaders from Southeast Europe. As part of the club he voiced his support for Turkey's accession to the European Union. In 2009, Zhelev also voiced his opinion that Bulgaria should adopt a presidential system based upon the French model: "The country should have both prime minister and president, but the latter should be vested in far-reaching powers so that he may control the executive power". Zhelev died in Sofia at the age of 79 on 30 January 2015.
