Congratulations should go out to Petar Stoyanov, he won the presidential elections this week.

While there are some formalities that need to be taken care of over the next few weeks (other candidates registering to participate, dramatic promises made, people voting on November 11), things are no longer much in doubt. The National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) announced this week that, instead of putting forward their own presidential candidate, they would support Stoyanov.

Probably a good decision on their part, too. Almost three months into their term in office, the NMSII is still riding high on public opinion. Their first efforts toward fulfilling their over-idealistic election promises have been well promoted and well received by Bulgarians. Their retractions on initial promises have been, for the most part, shuffled under the carpet with little fuss.

If the NMSII were to run a candidate in the elections, they stand an extremely good chance of losing. Stoyanov is one of Bulgaria's most popular politicians and going head-to-head with him would run the risk of doing something that the NMSII has yet to do in its immature existence - be defeated.

While it would be a much more interesting election, a defeat for the NMSII in a bloody campaign would be a severe hit toward its public opinion position. That could then lead to a whole new set of problems in the parliamentary arena.

Suffice to say, Stoyanov now becomes a shoe-in, the NMSII save face, and a few other candidates will pay lip service to the democratic process.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has decided to try and end Georgi Purvanov's political career once and for all. The BSP leader has been at the helm of the former communists' party for two parliamentary elections now and has led it to a remarkable identity crisis and brutal results at the polls.

In 1997, Purvanov's party was trampled by the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF). In June, the BSP garnered less than 20 per cent of the vote and became the country's third party. For a party which was in power a little over four years ago, they have gone downhill fast. Purvanov's probably done more for the UDF than many of its leaders have.

And now, someone in the BSP camp has had a great idea. The party stands little or no chance of defeating Stoyanov in the elections, so a sacrificial cow is in order, and they picked the best one possible.

On November 11, a man who has lost two parliamentary elections and a presidential one will be the leader of the BSP. There's not much more failure possible in a political career. His resignation should shortly follow the elections, paving the way for someone new to come in and rebuild a sinking ship.

The one potential light in an otherwise gray and dull election campaign will be George Ganchev. The former leader of the Bulgarian Business Block, now the leader of the George Ganchev Block, does not stand a chance in winning the elections, but he's great for spicing things up a bit.

The media-friendly politician no doubt has a few surprises up his sleeve, which should, if nothing else, make at least some people pay attention to what will otherwise be a lifeless campaign.