Uncertainty looms about the number of unknown candidates that are to register with Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission to run in the presidential elections on November 06.

October 04, 17:00 is the deadline for any party or initiative committee that wants to take part in the elections with its own candidate. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's GERB party, which was among the last to unveil its presidential pair, is to file the names of Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva and Vice Admiral Plamen Manushev later on Monday or Tuesday.

The two major ethnic Turk-dominated parties, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and splinter party DOST, however, have not yet made it clear whether they will table their own candidates or endorse others.

After DOST leader Lyutvi Mestan announced it was normal for a party's chairman to run but backing a GERB candidate, the DPS said it might opt for its honorary chairman, Ahmed Dogan, who has kept low profile since January 2013 when he retired from active politics.

Mestan, a former DPS leader, was dismissed and expelled from the party after Dogan accused him of siding with Turkey in its dispute with Russia over the downed Su-24 warplane in November.

Some experts have predicted that, traditionally, the DPS will seek to maintain its position as a kingmaker in electoral politics, votes of its supporters being crucial to the election of a next President if there is a runoff vote.

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