Bulgaria's presidential election is going to a second round on November 1, after exit polls published as voting ended on Sunday put sitting President Iliana Iotova and her running mate Kiril Valchev in first place, ahead of former caretaker prime minister Andrey Gyurov and his running mate Georgi Kandev. Bulgarian National Radio reported the exit polls conducted by its media partners Myara and Alpha Research as polls closed at 8 p.m., with every agency's count showing the same two tickets clear of the other 25 in the race.
The runoff was sealed by the turnout as much as by the votes. Under Bulgaria's rules, a president can only be elected in the first round with more than half of all valid votes and voter turnout above 50 percent of eligible voters. Turnout on Sunday stood at just 22.2 percent in the Myara exit poll and 22.3 percent in Alpha Research's — a record low — so no first-round victory was possible for anyone. Myara put Iotova–Valchev on 35.6 percent and Gyurov–Kandev on 32.5 percent; Alpha Research had them on 35.3 and 32.4 percent. Kostadin Kostadinov and Petar Volgin of the Vazrazhdane (Revival) party placed third, on 13.5 percent in the Myara count, and 4.7 percent of voters chose "none of the above." The figures are exit polls, not official results; the official count is due within 48 hours.
Iotova has held the presidency since January 23, 2026, when she succeeded Rumen Radev after he stepped down from the office. Radev is now prime minister, and his Progressive Bulgaria party backs her bid for a full five-year term. A former vice president and former member of the European Parliament, she has emphasised diplomacy over confrontation in the war in Ukraine and has opposed arms supplies to Kyiv. After casting her ballot on Sunday, she told reporters what she had voted for.
"I voted for an end to division and hatred among us. I firmly believe that Bulgaria will move forward. I firmly believe that we need peace, stability and security." — Iliana Iotova
Gyurov comes from the other side of Bulgaria's divide over the war. An economist and university lecturer, he is a former member of parliament and former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, and from February 19 to May 8, 2026, he served as the country's caretaker prime minister. He is backed by the pro-Western We Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria alliance, supports stronger cooperation with Ukraine, and as caretaker prime minister he signed a security agreement with Kyiv.
The campaign was fought under the shadow of that war: drone attacks on merchant ships off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast in October sharpened the argument over how Sofia should respond, while inflation and energy prices pressed voters at home. The runoff may turn on the voters who stayed away — turnout in the capital and the villages told different stories on Sunday — and on the supporters of Boyko Borisov's GERB, which fielded no candidate of its own for the first time. Borisov has said GERB would consider the runoff only if a candidate asked.
Gyurov, after voting on Sunday, set out the choice as his side sees it: "We do not want our children to live in fear, dependence and the poverty of the past. We want a Bulgaria that looks to the future, a Bulgaria that is European, free and proud, where incomes are sufficient, we feel secure about tomorrow, and the state does its job."
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