On 30 July Alexander Lilov stated on behalf of the parliamentary group of the Bulgarian Socialist Party that the decision to withdraw the candidacy of Chavdar Kjuranov was "driven by the desire and the will of our party to get out of the outlined presidential crisis and today to elect president our republic."

Lilov added that, "we will support one of the two candidates who puts politics of national consensus above party interests."

On 31 July Elena Kircheva reported the withdrawal of the candidature of Viktor Valkov on behalf of the parliamentary group of Agrarians, with Valkov saying "I do not feel confident enough at this time to proceed to the leadership of the country given that I see now in parliament a group of about 130 people on whose support I probably will not count."

On 31 July Stoyan Ganev nominated Zhelyu Zhelev as a candidate for head of state on behalf of the Union of Democratic Forces.

On August 1, immediately after being elected, Zhelyu Zhelev available for VP General Atanas Semerdzhiev.