Bulgaria's incumbent socialist president Georgi Parvanov won re-election in the second round of the country's presidential vote, defeating Ataka party leader Volen Siderov by a wide margin. Parvanov captured roughly 75% of the vote; Siderov received about 25%. Overall turnout held at 41%.
Siderov had campaigned aggressively against Bulgaria's Turkish minority, which makes up about 9.4% of the population, and had pledged to roll back rights that community had gained during the country's EU accession process. His defeat signaled that anti-Turkish and anti-EU rhetoric found little traction among Bulgarian voters.
Ethnic Turkish voters turned out at higher rates than ethnic Bulgarians, casting their ballots overwhelmingly for Parvanov. Bulgarian citizens residing in Türkiye, most of them of Turkish origin, voted in large numbers at Bulgarian diplomatic missions there, with Bulgarian officials reporting a turnout of nearly 55,000, or close to 90% of eligible expat voters.
Siderov attributed his loss to Bulgarian Turks and Romanians, a claim that has some statistical basis given the high minority turnout. Analysts note that the Turkish minority's participation served as a meaningful counterweight to far-right nationalist politics in Bulgaria.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in November 2006, in its own words.