Bulgarian ultra-nationalist leader Volen Siderov, underdog in Sunday's presidential run-off, still expects to unseat incumbent Georgi Parvanov and fix a litany of ills he said afflicted voters in the Black Sea state.
Helped by what analysts called a combination of voter apathy and discontent at persistent poverty, high-level corruption and organised crime, the radical firebrand came in second to Parvanov in the first round vote on October 22.
"You enter every battle expecting to win," Siderov told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. Parvanov, former head of the ruling Socialists, was far ahead with 64 percent of the vote versus Siderov's 21.5 but turnout was below the 50 percent threshold required for outright victory.
Analysts say Siderov has no chance of winning but his relative success sent a shockwave through the Bulgarian establishment just months before the country joins the European Union. Diplomats and mainstream parties say his radical Attack party is a platform for xenophobic, undemocratic and anti-minority policies which are not compatible with the EU.
The white-haired firebrand rejected those depictions and said he had reached out to hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians who feel they have been marginalised during the transition from former Soviet-satellite to pro-western democracy.
He said his main goal was to stop foreign influences from Nato, the EU, the IMF and the United States that have undermined his country's sovereignty and hurt Bulgarians. "When an influence from outside is threatening the identity or economy of a country it has a right to defend itself," he said. "Without violence or aggression, but defending itself."
The Balkan state of 7.8 million will join the EU on January 1. But with economic output at a third of the bloc's average and average wages of 160 euros a month, it will be its poorest member. Siderov, 50, campaigned in the heartland accusing Parvanov, his Socialist allies, and their ruling ethnic Turkish MRF partners of using their position to enrich themselves.
"We see how the political elite, in the former governments and now, have robbed and plundered the state," said the former journalist. "At the same time their electorate lives in poverty." Parvanov has refused to face Siderov in a debate, saying they come from "different political cultures". Siderov has pledged to ban MRF on the grounds it violates a rule against ethnic-based factions but denied he was against Bulgaria's large Turkish and Roma gypsy population.
He complained, however, of attacks on Bulgarians by "Roma gangs" who "live only on looting and crime". He called for scrapping Turkish-language TV broadcasts because, under the constitution, "Bulgarian is the official language of Bulgaria." He also warned that radical were building support among the 12 percent Muslim minority.
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