Any presidential candidate nominated by the ruling National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) would get more votes than incumbent President Petar Stoyanov, according to the results of a national survey.

From September 1 to 10, the Alpha Research polling agency asked 1,101 people above 18 whom they would vote for in the presidential elections set for November 11.

The poll found the NMSII candidate would get 40.1 per cent of the vote, while Stoyanov, who will run for a second mandate as an independent candidate, would be supported by 31 per cent of the respondents. A candidate of the left-wing Coalition for Bulgaria would be supported by 8.1 per cent and a candidate from the United Democratic Forces (UtDF) could count on 3.9 per cent of the vote. The UtDF, however, has already announced that it will support Stoyanov. According to the survey, 5.4 per cent of the respondents said they would not vote at all.

According to Stanislav Stoyanov from Alpha Research polling agency, Stoyanov will have a better chance of winning once a concrete NMSII candidate is announced. Only a joint nominee of the NMSII, Coalition for Bulgaria and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms stands a chance of beating the current president, Stoyanov said. He added that voter turnout would be a crucial factor in the elections.

On Tuesday, the Central Election Commission voted that the registration of candidates can start on September 27, and take place every day from 9am to 5pm. The registration deadline is 7pm on October 6, said CEC spokesman Biser Troyanov.

So far, Stoyanov is the only known candidate for president. Today, the committee that nominated Stoyanov will start collecting the 15,000 signatures needed for registering him and his vice-president nominee with the CEC.

Last Friday, Stoyanov announced that he would run in the elections together with Sofia District Court chairperson Nelly Kutskova who will be vice-presidential candidate. Stoyanov explained that he had asked her to run in the elections with him because of her frankness, honesty, openness, and her "undoubted professionalism." He also admired her irreconcilability with everything immoral - especially corruption.

"I am flattered by this proposal. I have known Petar Stoyanov for quite a while and we have similar mindsets," Kutskova said.

Stoyanov and Kutskova have known each other for more than 10 years. Back in 1991, they were both deputy ministers of justice.

The vice-presidential candidate said she would focus her efforts on fighting corruption. "Certainly the position of vice-president does not allow great opportunities to fight corruption," Kutskova noted, adding, however, that she had plenty of ideas and was not lazy.

In a meeting late on Tuesday, the NMSII parliamentary group did not discuss its candidate for president, according to its chairman Plamen Panayotov. The party, however, will keep all legal procedures and registration deadlines, he said before the meeting.