Karavelov, Petko Stoichev

Born in 1843 or 1845 in Koprivnica; died Jan. 24, 1903, in Sofia. Bulgarian statesman and political figure. Brother of L. Karavelov.

While a student in the department of history and philology of Moscow University, he was associated with the Narodniks (Populists). After the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman yoke (1878), he was elected to the Constituent Assembly. He was one of the leaders of the left wing of the Liberal Party. In February 1879 he was deputy chairman, and in October chairman, of the National Assembly. He was minister of finance from March to November 1880 and served as prime minister from November 1880 to April 1881. After a coup d’etat (in April 1881), he emigrated to Eastern Rumelia, where he published the newspaper Independence (to 1883), opposing the dictatorship of Alexander of Battenberg and supporting the restoration of the Turnovo Constitution of 1879. In 1883 he returned to Sofia. He was prime minister from June 1884 to August 1886. After the overthrow of Battenberg, he was one of the regents of Bulgaria (August-September 1886). During the period of the Stambulov regime (1887–94) he defended bourgeois democratic liberties. He was prime minister from February to December 1901.