Petar Stoyanov, president of Bulgaria, officially launched his presidential campaign for a second mandate in office on Tuesday. He has not yet selected his vice-president, but said that this would be done at a later stage, and that the person would meet all the necessary requirements.

Stoyanov's campaign team is co-chaired by Ivan Stanchov. The United Democratic Forces' Nadezhda Mihailova (former foreign minister), Lyuben Dilov Junior (Saint George's movement leader) and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization's (IMRO) Raina Drangova will be his deputies. Petar Kurumbashev is the campaign producer and will work with theatre director Tedi Moskov. The IMRO's chairman Krassimir Karakachanov and judge Zhivko Stalev are members of the campaign committee. Sociologist Ralica Peeva is Stoyanov's political analyst.

"I will lead a positive campaign without taking advantage of the benefits that the presidential institution can provide," said the president.

Stoyanov will rely on donations from individuals and businessmen to finance his campaign. Coalition 2000, Transparency without Borders and the Civil Alliance against Corruption will open accounts for donations to his campaign. Stoyanov said he would be glad if the National Movement Simeon II and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms supported his bid for a second mandate. However, no such talks have been conducted so far. Stoyanov stressed the fact that he would be an independent candidate in the elections. He added that the launch of the campaign came ahead of other candidates due to his current position as head of state and the duties he has to fulfill.

On Monday, the president took part in the USAID-organized Partners in Transition conference that discussed "The Challenges of the Transition."

"Social inequality and corruption gives people a skeptical view of achievements under democracy," said Stoyanov. He added that social inequality and the abandonment of the social equality policy might turn out to be the biggest problem in Bulgaria's second decade of transition.

The second element of the equality policy was the creation of a functioning judicial system in Bulgaria and the third, a strategy for investment in education.

The Croatian President Stjepan Mesic participated in the same conference. The two Presidents discussed at a special meeting during the conference the situation in Macedonia, southern Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.