BULGARIA: Incumbent Georgi Parvanov emerged with a huge lead after a first round of Bulgarian presidential polls yesterday, but a record low turnout forces him to contest a runoff vote.
A Gallup exit poll for private television station BTV showed Parvanov won 64.6 per cent in the first round.
The vote will bolster support for his ruling Socialist allies ahead of 2007 European Union entry. In second place, with 20.3 per cent, was Volen Siderov, whose xenophobic Attack party has opposed the Black Sea state's efforts to join the EU.
"I want to thank everyone who backed me and congratulate them with a very convincing result," Parvanov told reporters. "When you have such numbers you have nothing to worry about." But voter despondence over poverty and the slow pace of reforms produced a turnout of only 39.97 percent, meaning he must go into a runoff against the nationalist firebrand Siderov.
Under Bulgarian law, at least 50 per cent of voters must cast ballots or the top two candidates hold a runoff the following Sunday.
Parvanov, former head of the ex-communist Socialist Party, has won admiration from many in the country of 7.8 million for raising its profile abroad on the way to joining the Nato alliance in 2004 and the EU on January 1st.
"I voted for Parvanov because he had a very successful first mandate and he will continue that trend," said pensioner Tsvetanka Botcheva, (65). "He has taken us into Nato and the European Union."
Analysts say Parvanov has used his limited powers, which include the ability to veto laws and appoint cabinets, to increase his influence.
Although he casts himself as non-partisan, he is seen as the architect of the Socialists' ruling coalition and the guiding hand keeping them and their centrists and ethnic-Turkish partners together since divisive 2005 polls.
Parvanov's critics say he has failed to push successive cabinets to clamp down on high-level corruption and organised crime, and to raise living standards that will be the EU's lowest, with average wages of €160 a month.
"I cast a protest vote because I believe that this government is the weakest ever.
"Life is becoming harder and harder and our leaders don't care," said Violeta Rangelova, a 50-year-old legal adviser.