Bulgaria's Ex President Stoyanov: No Plans for New Run

Former Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov, one of the emblematic figures of the Union of Democratic Forces and the country's transition to democracy, has denied he may join again the race for the presidential office.

"I am not the ruling party's candidate for president. This issue is not on my agenda and I have no ambitions to be back at the presidential office," Stoyanov said in an interview for state-run BNT TV channel on Friday morning.

Stoyanov voiced full support for Rumen Hristov, vice-chair of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), who will be the Bulgarian rightist Blue Coalition's presidential candidate.

"I keep my fingers crossed for his success. This is important for the consolidation of the right-wing and its emancipation, which has always been our dream," Stoyanov said.

The 59-year-old Stoyanov, who served as head of state 1997-2002, enjoys good chances to win the elections in October with the support of the ruling center-right GERB party, the right-wing UDF, the smaller right-wing parties and other voters, according to politicians and analysts.

Bulgaria's prime minister and leader of the center-right ruling party Boyko Borisov recently announced that he has already picked his favourite runner for the presidential office at Dondukov 2, whom he described as non-partisan, with great prestige and popularity. According to insiders Borisov has already held a meeting with Petar Stoyanov.

The rumors were fuelled after the head of GERB election headquarters and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that the candidate for head of state will not be a minister.

"He is a very popular personality at home and in Europe, but not a party member and will come as a surprise for the right-wingers," Tsvetanov said.

Stoyanov's political career took a flying start in 1990 when he became UDF spokesman in the second-biggest town of Plovdiv only to be appointed two years later Deputy Minister of Justice in the first non-communist government of Bulgaria since 1944. He resigned in 1993 after the dismissal of the UDF government.

On 3 November 1996 Stoyanov was elected President of the Republic of Bulgaria by winning 2,502,517 votes equal to 59.73 % of the votes cast. He swore in as President of the Republic on 19 January 1997 and stepped down in 2002 after a defeat by current Socialist President Georgi Parvanov.

In February 2004 Stoyanov was nominated for right-wing leader of UDF, but gave way to Nadezhda Mihaylova. He took over UDF leadership in October 2005 after Mihaylova stepped down, citing lack of support as the main reason for her withdrawal.

Stoyanov resigned as party leader after UDF, once the dominant centre-right party in the country, failed to win a single seat in the European Parliament elections in May.

UDF has been in a steady decline since 2001, when the party lost the general elections following four years of needed, but painful reforms.

It never recovered from the shock, splitting into smaller parties since then, progressively losing ground in public opinion polls, which show it could fail to make it into the next parliament altogether.