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.
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