preclude carrying out its statutory
role as a deliberative and policymaking body. Public politicking or
wrangling by delegates to a party congress would be unprecedented.

Because the party congress meets so infrequently, it delegates its
functions to the Central Committee that it elects. Election of Central
Committee members is also a pro forma action wherein the congress
unanimously approves the list of names provided by the party leadership.
The Central Committee is a large working party organ, which in 1973
included 147 members and 110 candidate (nonvoting) members. The
committee is charged with the administration of party work between
sessions of the congress and the implementation of party policies
presented by the leadership. For the performance of its duties, the
Central Committee has fourteen permanently operating departments and six
schools and institutes, the latter ostensibly to promote political
educational goals. As set forth in party statutes, plenary sessions of
the committee are to be held at least twice a year, and special sessions
may be called from time to time.

Within the Central Committee sits the nine-man permanent Secretariat
headed by the first secretary who, by party structure, is the most
powerful man in the country. The Secretariat is elected by the Central
Committee during the party congress, but the election, once again, is
merely formal approval of the members already selected by the top party
leadership. Since 1954 the position of first secretary has been
continuously held by Zhivkov, who also heads the State Council and is
therefore the head-of-state. In addition to the first secretary, six
other secretaries and two members complete the composition of the
Secretariat. The main function of the Secretariat is to supervise the
implementation of party policy.

Sharing the center stage of political power with the Secretariat is the
Politburo, elected by the Central Committee in the same manner as the
Secretariat. In effect the Politburo is a self-perpetuating body, and
any change in membership is dictated by the members themselves. Composed
of eleven members and six candidate members, all Politburo members
belong to the Central Committee. They provide collective political
leadership in both party and government.

The Politburo is the policymaking and decisionmaking branch of the
party. In theory the eleven members of the Politburo are equal, but in
practice the party first secretary occ