THE CHAMPION of Bulgaria's right wing opposition won the first round yesterday of presidential elections with at least 10 points more than his ex communist nearest rival and said he expected a "landslide" victory in the run off next Sunday.
Mr Petar Stoyanov, supported by a broad right wing coalition including the biggest anti communist movement, the Union of Democratic Forces, was credited with between 41 per cent and 46 percent of the vote, according to six polling institutes.
The former communist candidate, Mr Ivan Marazov, trailed with between 25 and 30 per cent, according to the institutes, which included the respected Gallup organisation.
Mr Stoyanov said his victory indicated "a shift towards the centre" among Bulgarians who in 1994 had voted by a wide margin for the formerly communist Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) which now forms the government and controls the parliament.
Talking to journalists, Mr Stoyanov said nothing about calling early general elections though this was a major theme of his election campaign.
Instead, Mr Stoyanov urged the BSP to "follow the model of economic reform applied by Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary and become social democrats".
At a separate press conference. Mr Marazov said he was "still not beaten at this stage" and said he could tap a large reserve of voters who had abstained in the first round.
A third candidate, Mr George Ganchev, whose campaign was based on rubbishing the policies of the two main candidates, was predicted to have fared better than during 1992 presidential elections, earning 20 to 24 per cent of the vote, compared with his score of 17 per cent in the 1992 election.
The Socialist Prime Minister, Mr Zhan Videnov, has a secure majority in parliament where real power in Bulgaria lies but the UDF currently holds the more ceremonial post of president. Mr Stoyanov said one of his first acts if elected on November 3rd would be to ask Mr Videnov to reveal the full extent of the country's economic crisis.
Political analysts have also forecast that a big rebuff for the ex communist Socialists will widen rifts within their ranks that have become more public since the still unsolved October 2nd killing of the former prime minister, Andrei Lukanov. Parliament is only half way through its four year term but cabinet changes are a possibility, they said.
This largely agricultural nation of just 8.4 million people has been slow to shake off its communist legacy.