He was appointed prime minister in 1997, after a UDF-led coalition won snap parliamentary elections in April that year, triggered by a political crisis and street protests against the Bulgarian Socialist Party's (BSP) government.
Imenovan je premijerom 1997, nakon što je koalicija predvođena UDF-om te godine u travnju pobijedila na izvanrednim parlamentarnim izborima, koje je potakla politička kriza i ulični protesti protiv vlade Bugarske socijalističke stranke (BSP).