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Bulgaria's exiled king heading for power By Julius Strauss in Sofia

SIMEON II, the former king of Bulgaria, who was exiled for more than 50 years, was last night heading for victory in parliamentary elections.

Exit polls predicted that his National Movement for Simeon II party which pledged to end corruption and address poverty, won 41 per cent of the vote, 20 per cent more than its nearest rival.

If the predictions are confirmed today, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, 64, will be the region's first former monarch to return to power since the collapse of communism in 1989. It is believed that this would be the first time a king has been democratically elected into office.

When Simeon was born in 1937, his father, King Boris, was so delighted to have an heir that he granted an amnesty to 4,000 prisoners, upgraded the exam results of every schoolchild, and had an air force major fly to the river Jordan to collect water for his son's baptism.

Yesterday Simeon lined up to vote for the first time in his life. On emerging from the polling station he rejected charges from rival politicians that he was making unrealistic promises.

Simeon ruled Bulgaria as a boy king between 1943 and 1946, following the death of his father before being forced into exile aged nine by the Moscow-backed communists. He eventually settled in Spain, married his Spanish Queen Margarita, and became a business consultant. He did not return to his homeland until 1996, when thousands lined the streets of Sofia to welcome him.

Exit polls said that the incumbent Union of Democratic Forces was running a poor second with 21 per cent while the Bulgarian Socialist Party, a grouping of former Communists, registered about 19 per cent.

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2001