Nationalist candidate for president Volen Siderov is the only runner who stands a chance to take on current president Georgi Parvanov in the upcoming elections, a new survey shows.

Two weeks before the vote, Volen Siderov leads to his right-wing hardliner opponent Nedelcho Beronov by gathering respectively 23.2 % of the votes against 5.2%, Scala poll agency's research shows.

Current president Gerorgi Parvanov, who runs for a second mandate, still holds the top spot. He is expected to get 48% of the votes.

Right-wing presidential candidate Georgi Markov, former constitutional judge and a symbolic figure of Bulgaria's transition to democracy, ranks fourth with 3.3% of the votes, the projected tally shows.

Pollsters say a run-off is a sure bet as the turnout in the first round is not expected to exceed 34%. Six millions Bulgarians are eligible to head for the election booths on October 22, including 15,586 Bulgarians who have requested to vote abroad.

So far, the Foreign Ministry is preparing the opening of 147 polling booths for Bulgarians who are not home on Election Day.

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