On November 8, 2001 the Center for the Study of Democracy hosted a regular meeting of Diplomatic No 2 Club to discuss "Bulgaria on the Eve of the Presidential Elections".

The Club's Chair Mr. Winfried Schlote, Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy, opened the meeting, expressing his appreciation for the support rendered for this initiative by CSD and welcomed the new members.

Dr. Alexander Stoyanov, CSD Director of Research introduced the recent opinion poll results, outlining the common trends and the various forecasts of the social research agencies.

Professor Antony Todorov, Head of the Political Science Department at the New Bulgarian University, commented on the the characteristics of the current election campaign.

The Central Election Commission Member Professor Mikhail Konstantinov commented on the provisions of the Presidential Elections Law, the structuring of the Election Committees and the possible outcome of the elections on November 11. Special emphasis was made on possible problems arising of the differing number of voters.

The main issues in the discussion that followed concerned the differing forecasts of the opinion polls, the decreased number of candidates, the depolitization of voters, the organization of voting abroad, the political criteria for EU accession and political implications of the possible ballot.