On June 17, Bulgarians will not be presented with too many choices.

There is an initial decision - to vote or not. This is paramount to believing in the democratic process or not. To lack faith in politicians is one thing, but to not exercise a right which people in this part of the world very recently fought hard and died for, would be to state that the fight was for nothing.

Democracy was won, but many will not take advantage of what was won come Election Day.

For those who do in fact make it out to the polls, they have an extremely important decision to make in a critical time in their country. While many across the world take that decision too lightly, Bulgarians do not have the luxury to do so. The next government will dictate how fast the country grows, whether it becomes a NATO member, if it is successful in its short-term European Union accession goals, and, above all, how much better, or worse, its people will be living over the next few years.

Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the exiled king, returned to Bulgaria on a tremendous wave of hope and popularity, but not much else. He has formed a coalition to vie for the top positions in government, assembled almost exclusively out of new faces. One might call these people inexperienced - he just calls them new blood.

The Coalition for Bulgaria, the socialist party-led formation, seems to be a dog that has lost its bite. Having been replaced as the alternative to the current government by the king's arrival, they have proceeded to fail to present a strong argument for why people should vote for them. The coalition does not have a good plan for running the country and appears to only be capable of slowing development if it obtained power.

If the smaller parties are eliminated as a voting option, due to the fact that they are unlikely to play an influential role in government (with the exception of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms), then the other option rests in the current government, the United Democratic Forces (UtDF).

Four years ago the UtDF won the leadership of a country that was a mess. Both economic and political stability were nowhere in sight. Today the country is experiencing both, on the cushion of rising international prominence and good prospects toward accession into both NATO and the EU.

Confidence in the country from international institutions like the International Monetary Fund, is at an all time high. Would this continue to be the case with a new government in power with unproven people and largely unstated plans? Saying "trust me" to the IMF or the World Bank is not going to work.

Yes, it's true that the UtDF has made some mistakes. Corruption is still at an intolerably high level, promises of job creation have been unfulfilled, and confidence in government among the average Bulgarian is at a pitifully low level. But it would be better to go with the devil you know...

The current pace of economic and governmental reforms must continue and the trend of positive progress must be sustained. The current government has started this and it is too risky for it to be handed over to a political formation which was thrown together in a matter of days, with a platform which was developed in a similar amount of time.

A UtDF victory seems implausible but a stronger showing would see it possess more power in a coalition with the National Movement Simeon II.

Let the king crusade against corruption and try to restore public faith in the government, but let the UtDF do the important work. Let them run the country.