Rosen Asenov Plevneliev ( ; born 14 May 1964) is a Bulgarian politician who was the 4th President of Bulgaria, holding the position from January 2012 to January 2017. He was the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works from July 2009 to September 2011 as part of the cabinet of Boyko Borisov. In October 2011, Plevneliev was elected as President in a second round of voting; he was inaugurated on 18 January 2012. Biography Rosen Plevneliev was born in Gotse Delchev. His mother, Slavka Plevnelieva, was a teacher, and his father, Asen Plevneliev, was an activist of the Communist Party. He relocated to Blagoevgrad alongside his parents when he turned 10 years old. His family descended from Bulgarian refugees from southern Macedonia who resettled from today's village of Petrousa in the municipality of Prosotsani in Drama regional unit, Greek Macedonia, in 1913. The Plevneliev family name refers to the Bulgarian name of the village Petroussa, Plevnya (Плевня, "barn"). Plevneliev studied at Blagoevgrad Mathematical and Natural Sciences High School, from which he graduated in 1982. In 1989 he graduated from the Higher Mechanical-Electrotechnical Institute, Sofia, and in the same year become a fellow at the Institute for Microprocessing Technology, Pravets. While studying in the university, he was a Komsomol member of the Bulgarian Communist Party. After the political changes, in 1990, Plevneliev started a private building company in Bulgaria. Among other projects, the company built the Sofia Business Park. He was married to the journalist Yuliyana Plevnelieva from 2000 until their divorce in 2017; they had three sons: Filip, Asen and Pavel. One of the sons, Filip, died in 2015 at the age of 14. In addition to his native Bulgarian, he speaks English and German fluently. Political career Plevneliev became Minister of Regional Development and Public Works under Deputy Prime Minister Simeon Djankov on 27 July 2009. Minister Plevneliev was one of a handful of "reformers" in the government, together with Deputy Prime Minister Simeon Djankov, the Minister of Economy Traicho Traikov and the Minister of Environment Nona Karadzhova. He was announced as GERB's candidate for President of Bulgaria on 4 September 2011. He subsequently won the presidential election in a second round held on 30 October 2011, with a majority of 52.58% of the vote. He defeated Ivaylo Kalfin from the Bulgarian Socialist Party in the second round. He took the presidential oath on 19 January 2012 and