World Notes Bulgaria

Millions of jubilant Bulgarians celebrated the victory last week of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces over the Socialists, as the former communists are now called, in the nation's second multiparty parliamentary elections. "You are free! The age of communism in Bulgaria is over!" shouted U.D.F. leader Filip Dimitrov, who was later nominated to be Prime Minister.

The problem was that the center-right U.D.F. polled just 34.5% of the vote, to the Socialists' 33.5%. This means that the U.D.F., if it is to rule without the former communists, will need the support of the Turkish minority, whose party won 7.4% of the vote and 24 seats in the new 240-member parliament. But the ethnic Turks, who were widely persecuted under the communists, are asking for at least one ministry -- a demand that the Socialists, in turn, are using to fan fears of Turkish separatism. Exactly how the U.D.F. deals with this dilemma will demonstrate to what degree post communist Bulgaria is committed to multiparty democracy.