Petar Stoyanov
leader of the centre-right Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), one of the parties that backed Nedelcho Beronov, told Bulgarian National Radio that the result of the October 22 election was “the most serious loss” of his life, perhaps even more so than his own defeat (at the hands of Georgi Purvanov) in the 2001 presidential elections.

Stoyanov said that the UDF owed an apology to right-wing voters.

“My resignation is always in my pocket,” said Stoyanov.

He said that he would definitely not call on UDF supporters to vote for Ataka’s Volen Siderov in the second round.

“Our electorate is faced with the painful option of backing Georgi Purvanov,” Stoyanov said, but it would also be very difficult for UDF supporters to vote for Purvanov, who eight years used rhetoric very similar to that of Siderov.

On the low voter turnout, Stoyanov said: “Depending on the age, some go for mushrooms, others play tennis”.

On possible right-wing unity, Stoyanov said it would only be possible to achieve more if the parties involved had similar political goals and were willing to make compromises for that goal. There would be no point in joining up together if, by so doing, this helped the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Stoyanov said.

Nedelcho Beronov
speaking to journalists after his defeat, said: “I do not consider myself used. I fulfilled my duty”.

The former chairperson of the Constitutional Court said: “As of tomorrow, I will be a common man living a common life, just an ordinary pensioner”.

Of Volen Siderov, the Ataka leader who beat him into second place, Beronov said: “We all noticed the quiet, calm tone that we had never heard before”. Beronov described Ataka as a xenophobic, radical party that could not give Bulgaria a President who could lead the country into the European Union.

Beronov said that he would not vote for Purvanov.

Beronov said that he believed that he had united Bulgaria’s right-wing voters. “We did not call on the supporters of a party, we called on all democratically-thinking people in Bulgaria.”

Asked why Siderov had done better than him, Beronov said that the first question to be asked was why voter turnout had been so low.

Ivan Kostov
leader of the right-wing Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB), said that the October 22 results were a serious defeat not only for Nedelcho Beronov, but also for the democratic forces in the country, because the second round would be between Georgi Purvanov and Volen Siderov.

Kostov, seen as the person who pushed Beronov into place as the candidate of the DSB and the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), said that he did not intend to resign.

“I will not resign. I have done it once with very bad consequences...It would be a vaudeville if I resign every time,” said Kostov, who as Prime Minister and the then leader of the UDF, led his party to defeat in the June 2001 parliamentary elections.

“We showed ourselves incapable of providing resources for this campaign,” Kostov said.

Asked what he would do in the second round, Kostov said: “I’ll go, I’ll take a big black marker and cross out both candidates”.

Ekaterina Dimitrova, DSB deputy leader, said that the DSB could vote neither for a former communist and an agent of the former state security, nor for a nationalist and a populist.

Stefan Sofianski
leader of the Union of Free Democrats and former mayor of Sofia, said that he was not surprised by the defeat of centre-right candidate Nedelcho Beronov. Sofianski said Beronov had not been a suitable candidate, and his candidacy had represented only an attempt by right-wing parties to avoid conflict.

“There was no winner in these elections,” said Sofianski, who said that the low voter turnout was a heavy blow to Purvanov.

Finnish ambassador to Bulgaria Kauko Jamsen:
“The outcome of the presidential elections is a surprise to me. The fact that current President Georgi Purvanov and ultra-nationalist Volen Siderov proceeded to a second round is not what I expected, but Bulgaria is a democracy and such outcomes are not something to worry about. What I expected was that the right-wing candidate Nedelcho Beronov would proceed to the second round with Purvanov. Beronov made considerable progress in the past week and  his campaign was developing. However, Bulgaria is a democratic country and people such as Siderov with their messages, have every right to compete in elections.  Some of the messages that Siderov sends out are not that unfamiliar in any democratic society. The most recent presidential elections in France proved this. However I am convinced that current President Georgi Purvanov will be the next president of Bulgaria.”

Belgian ambassador to Bulgaria Philippe Beke:
“First of all, the first round of the Presidential elections showed that Bulgaria is a politically stable country. The way these elections had been organised is a sign that Bulgaria is showing continuity in its development in recent years. By continuity, I mean that the Bulgarian people today voted in support of all that has been achieved by Bulgarian governments in the past eight years. I think that current President Georgi Purvanov will win on the second round against ultra-nationalist Volen Siderov.”

Ahmed Dogan
leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), the party supported mainly by Bulgarians of ethnic Turkish descent, said that Volen Siderov had “unwittingly” helped the MRF mobilise its voters.

“We could easily turn out even more voters,” Dogan said.

He described the turnout for Siderov as indicative of a “risky” political situation for Bulgaria, “less so because of Siderov himself than because of the support he received”.