Georgi Purvanov, 44-year-old historian and leader of the Bulgarian Socialist (ex-Communist) Party, will be inaugurated as Bulgaria's new president next January. According to unofficial results (pollsters' exit polls and observers' parallel vote tabulation), he got between 53.3 and 55 per cent of the vote, compared to 45.5-46.7 per cent for incumbent Peter Stoyanov, who was running for a second term as an independent candidate. In his first statement, Purvanov said he will be president of all Bulgarians. He declared that he will be working for attainment of Bulgaria's strategic objectives: membership of the European Union and NATO, and pledged to seek the maximum possible continuity in foreign policy and an acceleration of the negotiations on the country's accession to the European Union. He also said that he will be implementing an active Balkan policy and will be pursuing a line of economization of foreign policy, which means, among other things, reactivation of economic contacts with Russia and Ukraine.