Yotova Crushes Bulgaria Runoff With Up to 58 Percent, Exit Polls Say
(MENAFN) Acting President Iliana Yotova is on course for a landslide win in Bulgaria’s presidential runoff Sunday, with exit polls showing her far ahead of pro-Western rival Andrey Gyurov.
Completed parallel vote counts from five leading polling agencies give Yotova between 56.6% and 58.2% of the vote. Gyurov trails with 38.6% to 40.6%.
Conceding at a press conference in Sofia, Gyurov said: “We accept the results, no matter how surprising they are,” He added that the campaign may be over, but his responsibility continues.
Yotova, a longtime Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) figure, widened her lead from the first round last weekend, when she took 34.76% to Gyurov’s 31.95%. She campaigned against further arms deliveries to Ukraine and called for a diplomatic path to peace, a sharp contrast with her opponent.
The vote follows April’s parliamentary election, in which Progressive Bulgaria, led by former President Rumen Radev, secured an outright majority with 131 of the 240 seats in the National Assembly.
Yotova served as Radev’s vice president and became acting head of state when he resigned in January. Progressive Bulgaria has endorsed her bid for a full five-year term.
Gyurov, a former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, warned on the campaign trail that a Yotova win would leave the top of the state without a genuine counterweight, because Progressive Bulgaria already controls the government.
On European Union and security policy, Gyurov attacked the government for hesitating, scaling back support for Ukraine and moving slowly to coordinate with NATO and EU partners. He argued that this course has left Bulgaria more vulnerable and made it a weak link on the alliance’s eastern flank.
Completed parallel vote counts from five leading polling agencies give Yotova between 56.6% and 58.2% of the vote. Gyurov trails with 38.6% to 40.6%.
Conceding at a press conference in Sofia, Gyurov said: “We accept the results, no matter how surprising they are,” He added that the campaign may be over, but his responsibility continues.
Yotova, a longtime Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) figure, widened her lead from the first round last weekend, when she took 34.76% to Gyurov’s 31.95%. She campaigned against further arms deliveries to Ukraine and called for a diplomatic path to peace, a sharp contrast with her opponent.
The vote follows April’s parliamentary election, in which Progressive Bulgaria, led by former President Rumen Radev, secured an outright majority with 131 of the 240 seats in the National Assembly.
Yotova served as Radev’s vice president and became acting head of state when he resigned in January. Progressive Bulgaria has endorsed her bid for a full five-year term.
Gyurov, a former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, warned on the campaign trail that a Yotova win would leave the top of the state without a genuine counterweight, because Progressive Bulgaria already controls the government.
On European Union and security policy, Gyurov attacked the government for hesitating, scaling back support for Ukraine and moving slowly to coordinate with NATO and EU partners. He argued that this course has left Bulgaria more vulnerable and made it a weak link on the alliance’s eastern flank.
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