BULGARIA: SOFIA: SECOND ROUND OF VOTING TO ELECT NEW PRESIDENT

(1 Nov 1996) Bulgarian/Eng/Nat
Bulgarians go to the polls again Sunday to elect a new president in the second round of voting.
There was no clear winner in the first poll last week.
The main contenders for the run-off are socialist candidate Ivan Mazarov and the head of the opposition coalition, Petar Stoyanov.
The Presidential race is viewed as a referendum on the two-year old socialist government of Prime Minister Zhan Videnov.
Many voters are disillusioned with the country's grave economic problems which have plagued Bulgaria since the collapse of communism in 1989.
Bulgaria - and with it, its eight and a half (m) million inhabitants - is suffering the worst economic crisis since the 1989 collapse of communism.
Its prospects do not look good - Bulgaria suffers from high inflation, bread and meat shortages, and drastic hikes in energy and fuel prices.
Next Sunday, Bulgarians will be voting for their next president, after none of the candidates seized a majority in the first round of polling last week.
Under its post-communist constitution, the role of the president is that of an arbiter rather than a political decision-maker.
The candidate of Bulgaria's anti-Communist opposition coalition, Petar Stoyanov, emerged in the lead from last Sunday's presidential elections, with 44 percent of the vote.
The socialist party, composed of former communists, won 27 percent through its candidate Culture Minister, Ivan Mazarov.
Last week, only 62 percent of voters turned out - a record low since the first free elections in 1990.
A run-off between the two candidates who pulled the highest number of voters in the first round is scheduled for November third.
The socialists are hoping they will pull through in the second round.
SOUNDBITE: (Bulgarian)
"I hope in the run-off many people will realise that these are not general parliamentary elections, but presidential elections, that the role of the presidency, is extremely important and they voters will change their minds, show goodwill and vote for us."
SUPER CAPTION: Ivan Mazarov - Presidential candidate for the B-S-P (Bulgarian Socialist Party)
His rival, front-runner Petar Stoyanov, said the electorate delivered a punishment vote to the socialist government of Zhan Videnov, who have been in power for two years.
SOUNDBITE: (Bulgarian)
"I think that a very strong contributing factor was the extremely poor leadership of the B- S-P. Bulgarians live in extreme poverty and they see weak leadership as the cause of this poverty. This is why by voting the way they did they expressed their attitude - their condemnation - towards the government"
SUPER CAPTION: Petar Stoyanov - Leader of the Opposition coalition, U-D-F
An estimated one (m) million voters who backed the socialists in the last general elections in December 1994 either stayed at home or placed their votes elsewhere in the last vote.
They are said to be disillusioned with the country's grave economic problems and concerned about their personal survival in the coming winter.
SOUNDBITE: (Bulgarian)
"The life here is very hard. People don't buy our goods because they don't have money. We sell our goods cheaply but people have no money".
SUPER CAPTION: Local trader
SOUNDBITE: (Bulgarian)
"The situation is tragic, I live a hard life. Money is always late in coming, bills we have to pay are enormous. Sometimes I feel as if I have the Gestapo on my own back"
SUPER CAPTION: Local teacher
Since the collapse of communism in 1989, six squabbling governments have come and gone along with shifting ministers and programmes.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
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