ABSTRACT
General Mikhov (Regency Council) 1944-6 Professor Venelin Ganev, Zvetko
Boboshevsky and Todor Pavlov (Regency Council)
1946-7 Vassil Kolarov (Acting president) 1947-50 Dr Mincho Nechev (President of the
Presidium of the Republic) 1950-8 Lt-Gen. Georgi Damianov (President of
the Presidium of the Republic) 1958-64 Dimiter Ganev Varbanov (Head of
State) 1964-71 Georgi Traikov Girovski (Head of
State)
1971-Nov. 1989 Todor Zhivkov (Chairman of the Council of State) (Presidents)
Nov. 1989-Jul. 1990 Peter Mladenov Aug. 1990-7 Zhelyu Zhelev 1997-2001 Petar Stoyanov 2001-Georgi Parvanov
Croatia
1941-5 Dr Ante Pavelic´ (Head of State) (Presidents)
1991-9 Franjo Tudjman 2000-Stipe Mesic´
Czechoslovakia
(Presidents) 1918-35 Professor Tomáš Masaryk 1935-5 Oct. 1938 Dr Edvard Beneš 5 Oct. 1938-30 Nov. 1938 General Sirový (interim head of state) 30 Nov. 1938-15 Mar. 1939 Dr Emil Hacha* 1945-8 Dr Edvard Beneš 1948-53 Klemens Gottwald 1953-7 Antonin Zápotocký 1957-68 Antonin Novotný 1968-75 General Ludvik Svoboda 1975-89 Dr Gustav Husák 1989-92 Václav Havel 1992 Jan Strasky (acting)
Czech Republic
(Presidents) 1993-2003 Václav Havel 2003-Václav Klaus
East Germany
1949-60 Wilhelm Pieck (President) 1960-73 Walter Ulbricht (Chairman of the
Council of State) 1973-6 Willi Stoph (Chairman of the Council
of State) 1976-89 Erich Honecker (Chairman of the
Council of State)
1989 Egon Krenz (Chairman of the Council of State)
1989-90 Manfred Gerlach (Chairman of the Council of State)
1990 Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (President)
Estonia
1921-2 Konstantin Päts 1923 Konstantin Päts 1932-3 Konstantin Päts 1934-40 Konstantin Päts 1991-2 Arnold Rüütel (Chairman of the
Supreme Council) (Presidents) 1992-2001 Lennart Georg Meri 2001-6 Arnold Rüütel 2006-Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Hungary
16 Nov. 1918-22 Mar. 1919 Count Mihaly Karolyi (provisional President)
1 Mar. 1920-16 Oct. 1944 Admiral Miklós Horthy (Regent) 16 Oct. 1944-45 Colonel-General Karoly Beregfay,
Dr Ferenc Rajniss and Dr Sandor Csia (Regency Council)
1946-8 Rev. Zoltan Tildy (President) 1948-50 Arpad Szakasits (President until 1949,
thereafter Chairman of the Presidium of the Republic)
1950-2 Sandor Ronai (Chairman of the Presidium of the Republic)
1952-67 István Dobi (Chairman of the Presidium of the Republic)
1967-87 Pál Losonczi (Chairman of the Presidium of the Republic)
1987-8 Karoly Németh (Chairman of the Presidium of the Republic)
1988-9 Bruno Ferenc Straub (Chairman of the Presidium of the Republic) (Presidents)
1990-2000 Arpád Göncz 2000-5 Ferenc Mádl 2005-László Sólyom
Latvia
1918 Dr Ka¯rlis Ulmanis (President) 1929-36 Albert Kviesis (President) 1936-40 Dr Ka¯rlis Ulmanis (President) 1990-3 Anatolijs Gorbunovs (Chairman of the
Supreme Council) (Presidents)
1993-9 Guntis Ulmanis 1999-Vaira Vi¯k¸e-Freiberga
Lithuania
1926-9 Professor Woldemaras 1931-40 Antanas Smetana 1990-2 Vytautas Landsbergis (Chairman of the
Supreme Council) 1992-3 Agirdas Brazauskas (Chairman of the
Seimas (Parliament)) (Presidents)
1993-8 Agirdas Brazauskas 1998-2003 Valdas Adamkus 2003-4 Rolandas Paksas 2004-Valdas Adamkus
Macedonia (FYROM)
(Presidents) 1992-9 Kiro Gligorov 1999-2004 Boris Trajkovski 2004-Branko Crvenkovski
Moldova
(Presidents) 1991-6 Mircea Snegur 1997-2001 Petru Lucinschi 2001-Vladimir Voronin
Montenegro (Crna Gora)
(Presidents) 1991-8 Momir Bulatovic´ 1998-2002 Milo Djukanovic´ 2003-Filip Vujanovic´
Poland
(Presidents) 1918-Dec. 1922 Jozef Piłsudski 14-16 Dec. 1922 Gabriel Narutowicz 20 Dec. 1922-14 May 1926 Stanisław Wojciechowski 1926-30 Sep. 1939 Professor Ignacy Móscicki 30 Sep. 1939-45 Władysław Raczkiewicz (in exile) 1945-52 Boleslaw Bierut (provisional 1945-7) 1952-90 (15-person Council of State) Nov. 1985-90 General Wojciech Jaruzelski
(Chairman of the Council of State and President from Jul. 1989)
22 Dec. 1990-5 Lech Wałe˛sa (President) 1995-2005 Aleksander Kwas´niewski (President) 2005-Lech Kaczyn´ski (President)
Romania
(1914)–27 Ferdinand I (King) 1927-30 (supplanted) Michael (Prince under a Council of
Regency) 1930-40 (abdicated) Carol II (King) 1940-7 (abdicated) Michael (King) 1948-52 Professor Constantin Parhon (President
of the Presidium of the Republic) 1952-8 Dr Petru Groz(e)a (President of the
Presidium of the Republic) 1958-61 Ion Gheorge Maurer (President of the
Presidium of the Republic) 1961-5 Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (President of
the Presidium of the Republic) 1965-7 Chivu Stoica (President of the
Presidium of the Republic) 1967-74 Nicolae Ceaus¸escu (President of the
Presidium of the Republic) (Presidents)
1974-89 Nicolae Ceaus¸escu 1990-6 Ion Iliescu 1996-2000 Emil Constantinescu 2000-5 Ion Iliescu 2005-Traian Baˇsescu (temporarily suspended
Apr.–May 2007) Apr.–May 2007 Nicolae Vaˇcaˇroiu (interim)
Serbia
(Presidents) 1989-97 Slobodan Miloševic´ 1998-2002 Milan Milutinovic´ 30 Dec. 2002-3 Mar. 2004 Natasa Micic´ (acting) 4 Mar. 2004-9 Jul. 2004 Predrag Markovic´ (acting) 10 Jul. 2004-Boris Tadic´
Slovakia
(Presidents) 28 Oct. 1939-45 Mgr Jozef Tiso 1991-2 Mar. 1998 Michal Kovac 29 May 1999-2004 Rudolf Schuster 2004-Ivan Gašparovicˇ
Slovenia
(Presidents) 1991-2002 Milan Kucˇan 2002-07 Janez Drnovšek 2007-Danilo Türk
Ukraine
(Presidents) 1991-4 Leonid Kravchuk 1994-2005 Leonid Kuchma 2005-Viktor Yushchenko
Yugoslavia (Union of Serbia and Montenegro 2003-6)
1918-21 Peter I (King, previously only of Serbia) 1921-34 Alexander (King) 1934-45 Peter II (King) 1934-41 Paul (Regent) 1945-53 Dr Ivan Ribar (President) 1953-80 Marshal Tito (President)
(Presidents of the Presidency of the Republic)
4-15 May 1980 Lazar Kolisevski (Macedonia) 1980-1 Cvijetin Mijatovic´
(Bosnia-Herzegovina) 1981-2 Sergej Kraigher (Slovenia) 1982-3 Petar Stambolic´ (Serbia) 1983-4 Mika Spiljac´ (Croatia) 1984-5 Veselin Djuranovic´ (Montenegro)
1985-6 RadovanVlajkovic´ (Vojvodina) 1986-7 Sinan Hasani (Kosovo) 1987-8 Lazar Mojsov (Macedonia) 1988-9 Raif Dizlarevic´ (Bosnia-Herzegovina) 1989-90 Janez Drnovšek (Slovenia) 1990-1 Borisav Jovic´ (Serbia) 1991 Stipe Mesic´ (Croatia)
(Presidents) 1992-3 Dobrica Cosic´ 1993-7 Zoran Lilic´ 1997-2000 Slobodan Miloševic´ 2000-3 Vojislav Koštunica 2003-4 Svetozar Marovic´ 2004-6 Boris Tadic´
6.1.2 Heads of government (prime ministers/premiers, unless otherwise indicated)
Students are reminded that except in the Communist period, and for some of the time even then, almost all central and eastern European governments are, and have been, broad coalitions, and that descriptions such as ‘liberal’ and ‘socialist’ can have wide and even contradictory meanings. Their use below is only to provide the most general of guides.
