Bulgaria Votes in Runoff: Iotova Leads Gurov by 2.8 Points
(MENAFN) Bulgaria’s presidential runoff is underway Sunday, with close to 6.6 million eligible voters deciding between the incumbent head of state and a former caretaker prime minister.
Polls close at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT), when the first exit polls are due. Official results must be published by Wednesday at the latest.
Iliana Iotova, the sitting president, is running alongside vice-presidential candidate Kiril Valchev. Their ticket topped the 27-pair field in the Oct. 25 first round with 34.76 percent. It is backed by the ruling Progressive Bulgaria party, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and others.
Trailing by roughly 2.8 percentage points is Andrey Gurov, who is paired with Georgi Kandev. The Gurov-Kandev ticket, supported by We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria, took 31.95 percent in the first round.
Bulgarians elect the president and vice president directly for five-year terms. Iotova’s current term expires at the end of January 2027.
Iotova, 62, served two terms as vice president, winning in 2016 and 2021 under President Rumen Radev. She took over as head of state under the Constitution after Radev resigned in January. Earlier in her career, she sat on the National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party from 2000 to 2016 and served in both the Bulgarian National Assembly and the European Parliament.
Valchev is director general of the national news agency.
Gurov, an adjunct professor of finance at the American University in Bulgaria, brings less political experience to the race. He led a caretaker government as prime minister for 78 days in the first half of this year. He also chaired the We Continue the Change parliamentary group across two legislatures, from December 2021 to February 2023.
Kandev is a former career police officer. He spent several months this year as acting secretary general at the Ministry of Interior.
Polls close at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT), when the first exit polls are due. Official results must be published by Wednesday at the latest.
Iliana Iotova, the sitting president, is running alongside vice-presidential candidate Kiril Valchev. Their ticket topped the 27-pair field in the Oct. 25 first round with 34.76 percent. It is backed by the ruling Progressive Bulgaria party, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and others.
Trailing by roughly 2.8 percentage points is Andrey Gurov, who is paired with Georgi Kandev. The Gurov-Kandev ticket, supported by We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria, took 31.95 percent in the first round.
Bulgarians elect the president and vice president directly for five-year terms. Iotova’s current term expires at the end of January 2027.
Iotova, 62, served two terms as vice president, winning in 2016 and 2021 under President Rumen Radev. She took over as head of state under the Constitution after Radev resigned in January. Earlier in her career, she sat on the National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party from 2000 to 2016 and served in both the Bulgarian National Assembly and the European Parliament.
Valchev is director general of the national news agency.
Gurov, an adjunct professor of finance at the American University in Bulgaria, brings less political experience to the race. He led a caretaker government as prime minister for 78 days in the first half of this year. He also chaired the We Continue the Change parliamentary group across two legislatures, from December 2021 to February 2023.
Kandev is a former career police officer. He spent several months this year as acting secretary general at the Ministry of Interior.
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