A few weeks ago an editorial appeared in this space regarding the then upcoming presidential elections. The campaign had yet to really begin, but there were murmurs about a number of interesting possibilities that could surface to make the contest reminiscent of the unprecedented events seen in the parliamentary elections. In essence, here we go again.

The week after the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII) announced that they would not field a candidate and would support incumbent President Petar Stoyanov, The Echo's editorial congratulated him on his upcoming victory. It seemed then that Stoyanov would be a shoe-in.

Sunday's first-round ballot proved the latter editorial wrong. Here we go again.

This weekend's contest will pit the incumbent against a man who has come from the depths of political incompetence to present a legitimate challenge to become Bulgaria's head of state. While Stoyanov and former Interior Minister Bogomil Bonev were fighting about who is more corrupt, somehow Georgi Purvanov managed to sneak up the middle and win the first vote.

Comrade Purvanov, the head of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (the more politically correct new name of the country's communist party), managed to somehow stay clean in a campaign which turned a little dirty, and capture the trust of a whopping 36.3 per cent of the 41.5 per cent of the electorate who decided to vote, remarkably coming out ahead of Stoyanov's 34.9 per cent.

For a politician who has skillfully managed to exasperate the identity crisis of the socialist party and get demolished in two successive parliamentary elections, Comrade Purvanov still holds hope of accomplishing something in his political career. At the beginning of the campaign, he looked like a sacrificial cow for the socialist party, served on a platter of imminent defeat in the presidential elections so that he would have no choice but to resign after a failed bid.

The idea that Comrade Purvanov would even have a chance of winning the elections seems as absurd as... as... a former king returning to his country halfway through an election campaign, forming a party, not saying much and then clobbering his competition and winning a parliamentary election.

One would think that traditional instruments like common sense and opinion polls could be relied on when forecasting election results but apparently not in this country.

His shocking performance in the first round had Stoyanov scrambling around this week trying to shore up support, but, while the NMSII again voiced their support for him, that's about as far as they've gone during the campaign. Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg's statement over the weekend of "The elections? I have more work than that," further proves this point.

Comrade Purvanov's lead in the first round over Stoyanov is virtually meaningless other than it being a huge shock to a lot of the country and a source of hope for a has-been with presidential dreams. Support from eliminated Movement for Rights and Freedoms-sponsored candidate Reneta Indjova who received 4.9 per cent, won't help Stoyanov's cause, although Bonev not supporting either candidate in the second round should help somewhat.

Given that the presidential race has now become quite close, voter turnout should be substantially higher than in the first round, probably helping Stoyanov as well.

Both candidates are scheduled to appear on the Slavi Trifonov show tonight and what transpires there could play a role in shifting votes. Or something entirely different could happen.

Here we go again.