The political strategists of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) must have been thinking they had one more ace up their sleeves.

President Petar Stoyanov's announcement this week that he will run for another term was it. In an address to the nation at the end of last week and then during a press conference this week, Stoyanov said that he would seek re-election to preserve Bulgaria as a safe and stable country. Part of his statement was a definite shot at Simeon Saxe-Coburg's National Movement Simeon II (NMSII), when he warned about the danger of believing the promises and "illusions" of that party.

It looked to be one last attempt by the ruling party to have some degree of success in Sunday's elections, or avert complete disaster.

It's unclear whether this was planned from the outset of the UDF's thoroughly unorganized and poorly run campaign, but it has the potential of backfiring. It may prove to be the case that it would have been better for Stoyanov just to keep his mouth shut. Or at least just issue his warning and not commit to another presidential term.

But then again, these days it's pretty hard to judge the Bulgarian people as a whole. By and large, they are disenfranchised with the current government, have lost faith in having faith, and look to be about to vote a serious question mark into power. The question mark comes in the form of Saxe-Coburg, the exiled king, who has rallied the emotional support of the Bulgarian people and translated it into what looks like electoral success. If the polls are accurate, the king will be calling the shots in the country's next government.

And anyone who may have been wavering between the UDF and the NMSII, has just been given an assurance by their president that if they vote for the king, Stoyanov will be around for another term to guard the country against anything bad the NMSII has the potential to do.

If the idea of Stoyanov's address to the nation was quickly conceived, it is understandable how it would initially appear to be good - the country's most popular figure condemning the NMSII and trying to rip away their credibility. Maybe this would finally convince the Bulgarian people that their support for this unproven political figure was a bad move. Maybe people would see the light, so to speak.

But then we come to the major policy error. People all over the world, who live in countries with a system like Bulgaria's, which has a separation of powers, usually prefer to have representatives from different political parties in those two offices. No matter how much Stoyanov goes on about his running as an independent candidate in the presidential elections, everyone knows he is a UDF candidate. The party supports him and they will not have someone run against him on their behalf in the fall.

Therefore, if there's a UDF president, why should there be a UDF government as well?

Then again, maybe it will rain on election day, the king's supporters won't come out to the polls, frustrated UDF supporters will change their minds about voting for the blues, and the next prime minister will be from the Gergiovden Movement.

Or maybe not, and the NMSII will win and scare the hell out of most sane-minded individuals in this country.