Presidential Election 2006
Siderov ran for President in the 2006 presidential election. In the first round on 22 October he received 21% of the vote and qualified for the runoff on 29 October against incumbent Georgi Parvanov, who had 65%. Parvanov was not declared the winner after the first round because, in accordance with Bulgarian electoral law, at least 50% of all registered voters had to take part in the first round for that. Mainstream right-wing parties in Bulgaria (the UDF and the DSB) refused to back any of the candidates, despite appeals by many observers, notably by fellow conservative and European People's Party chairman Hans-Gert Pöttering, to support Parvanov (the situation was commonly compared with the way French left voters supported mainstream right-wing candidate Jacques Chirac against far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2002). The centrist National Movement for Simeon II ultimately decided to back Parvanov. Meanwhile some far left formations called their sympathizers to support Siderov. In the second round he lost, receiving about 24% of the vote.
Read more about this topic: Volen Siderov
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