The opening of the Constituent Assembly

On February 10, 1879 the Constituent Assembly was opened in the city of Veliko Tarnovo. It was convened on the basis of the Berlin Treaty, composed of 229 deputies: 117 representatives of the electoral administrative and judicial councils, 88 elected and 24 members - appointed by Knyaz Dondukov. Metropolitan Antim I Vidinski was elected chairman and Petko Karavelov and Todor Ikonomov deputy chairmen. Officials from Macedonia, Edirne Thrace and East Roumelia participated in the one-month private meetings of the deputies about the national unification issue. The Constituent Assembly continued to work until April 16, 1879 and initiated the parliamentary life in liberated Bulgaria. Instead of the Authority Statute prescribed by the Berlin Congress, the deputies of the Constituent Assembly worked out the Tarnovo Constitution, and signed it unanimously on April 16, 1879. It includes 169 articles, arranged in 22 chapters. The Principality of Bulgaria was defined as a hereditary and constitutional monarchy with a popular representation, as the National Assembly was divided into grand and ordinary.