Dimitar Iliev Popov (born 26 June 1927 in Kula

Kula, Bulgaria

Kula is a town in northwestern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of Kula Municipality part of Vidin Province. Located just east of the Serbian-Bulgarian border, it is the third largest town in the province after Vidin and Belogradchik. Kula lies 30 kilometres west of Vidin and 13...

) was a leading Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

n judge and the first Prime Minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 of the country not to be a member of the Bulgarian Communist Party

Bulgarian Communist Party

The Bulgarian Communist Party was the communist and Marxist-Leninist ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 1990 when the country ceased to be a communist state...

 since 1946.

Popov, who did not have any party affiliation and was chosen for his perceived impartiality as a member of the judiciary, was chosen to head an interim government after the resignation of Andrey Lukanov

Andrey Lukanov

Andrey Karlov Lukanov was a Bulgarian political figure.-Biography:Lukanov was born in Moscow, USSR, in the family of Karlo Lukanov, , a Bulgarian communist emigre....

 in December 1990 in the face of mass demonstrations and a general strike

General strike

A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...

. As Prime Minister Popov oversaw the drafting of the new constitution

Politics of Bulgaria

Politics of Bulgaria take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the...

 as well as the first open elections. Although overseeing the beginnings of the policy of privatization

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

, Popov's government was more of a caretaker administration.