Bulgaria Elects First Woman President as Yotova Defeats Gyurov in Runoff

Iliana Yotova has won Bulgaria’s presidential runoff against Andrey Gyurov by a wide margin, according to parallel vote counts reported by polling agencies, while record-low voter turnout has raised questions about the political weight of her mandate.

Further reading: Presidential Candidate Iliana Yotova: The Status Quo

All polling agencies reported a clear lead for the ticket of Iliana Yotova and Kiril Valchev over the pairing of Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev.

A 100% parallel count by Market Links put Yotova at 57.4%, against 39.6% for Gyurov, with turnout at 29.1%. Alpha Research initially reported 57.1% for Yotova and 39.3% for her opponent in its own 100% parallel count. Its later figures showed Yotova and Valchev with 57.4%, compared with 39.6% for Gyurov and Kandev.

Trend's 100% parallel count gave Yotova 58.1%, a lead of 19.2 percentage points over the opposing ticket, which received 38.9%. Myara's initial 100% count put the incumbent president at 58.1%, against 38.6% for Gyurov. Its later figures showed Yotova and Valchev with 58.2%, while Gyurov and Kandev remained at 38.6%. The agency also reported that 3.2% of voters had selected the "I do not support anyone" option and estimated turnout at 27.2% as of 8:00 PM.

Gallup's 75% parallel count showed Yotova and Valchev leading with 56.1%, compared with 39.9% for Gyurov and Kandev, a gap of more than 16 percentage points.

Alpha Research's later figures also put the share of voters selecting "I do not support anyone" at 3%. The agency estimated turnout at 29.1% as of 8:00 PM and said 1,920,000 people had voted.

Turnout had reached 19.33% by 4:00 PM. Polling agencies expected the final figure to remain just below 30%. The limited participation was described not simply as a temporary consequence of weather conditions or election organization, but as evidence of persistent public alienation from the political system.

The historical figures for previous presidential elections underline the scale of the decline. Zhelyu Zhelev received 2,738,420 votes in 1992, while Petar Stoyanov secured 2,502,517 in 1996. Georgi Parvanov won 2,043,443 votes in 2001 and 2,050,488 when he was reelected in 2006. Rosen Plevneliev received 1,698,136 votes in 2011, while Rumen Radev secured 2,063,032 in 2016 and 1,539,650 in 2021.

Even the lowest vote total among those presidential winners was considerably higher than the support expected for the new president under the current turnout conditions. Yotova is expected to have won with approximately 1 million to 1.1 million votes, substantially fewer than Zhelev and his successors received when they were elected.

The difference does not affect the election's legal validity, but it raises questions about the political weight of the mandate. The president is the constitutional head of state for all Bulgarian citizens, not only those who voted in the runoff. When most eligible voters stay away from the polls, the claim to represent a unifying national figure faces the challenge of limited public legitimacy. The institution's influence will depend not only on the powers attached to the office but also on the new president's capacity to rebuild lasting public confidence beyond her core supporters.

Prime Minister Rumen Radev made a brief statement after the election, saying: "We have known each other for 10 years and I know that Iliana Yotova will be a worthy president."

Representatives of Progressive Bulgaria defended the legitimacy of Yotova's victory. Petar Vitanov, a member of her initiative committee, thanked those who had voted and said he expected Bulgaria to become more stable and calm.

* "Every vote matters. We succeeded in mobilizing the public, and voter turnout in the second round was about 10 percentage points higher. I believe there are ample grounds to affirm that the president has been elected with full legitimacy,"* Vitanov said. He argued that the presidential election should not be compared with parliamentary votes.

Aleksandrina Pendachanska, co-chair of Gyurov's initiative committee, said both Gyurov and Georgi Kandev had promising political prospects.

* "We cannot speak of any decline or loss of votes. They are only just beginning to expand their base of support. Gyurov will receive significant support from abroad,"* she said.

Asen Vassilev, leader of We Continue the Change, said support for Gyurov had almost doubled compared with the first round. He also argued that votes from GERB and the DPS had not determined the outcome for either candidate.

* "One-third of DPS voters turned out to vote; half of their votes went to Andrey Gyurov, and the other half to Iliana Yotova,"* Vassilev said. He called the presidential election result a "red card" for the Progressive Bulgaria government.

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said the Ministry of Interior had stopped attempts to buy votes and manipulate the election outcome.

* "Despite numerous reports and indications of attempts to achieve a specific outcome through vote-buying, the professional and preventive work of the police demonstrated that we can curb this phenomenon. We succeeded,"* he said.

Demerdzhiev also pointed to the involvement of certain mayors, some of whom are currently facing pretrial proceedings. He said police had blocked schemes used in previous elections from affecting the vote.

* "We can confidently state that the results recorded in the official election documents were in no way influenced by these corrupt practices,"* the interior minister said.

Vassilev said the preliminary results, if confirmed, would represent almost twice as many votes for Gyurov as he received in the first round. He attributed the outcome in part to the campaign's failure to generate sufficient voter mobilization.

* "What was lacking in this campaign was sufficient mobilization. It became clear that the number of GERB supporters who turned out to vote in the first round was the same as the number who voted in the second,"* Vassilev said.

He called on the public to wait for the final results, adding that although the margin between the candidates could become narrower, he did not expect the outcome to be reversed.

Vassilev also stressed that We Continue the Change (PP) was following an independent economic and political course. Recent opinion polls, he said, showed the party as the country's second-largest political force even without the support of Democratic Bulgaria. He described GERB's backing for Gyurov as "pro forma."

The PP leader also expressed hope that the budget decisions of the Progressive Bulgaria government would not repeat the approach of the Zhelyazkov cabinet, warning that the consequences would be the same.

Progressive Bulgaria's first response to the preliminary results came from Petar Vitanov, chair of the party's parliamentary group. He thanked voters who had gone to the polls despite bad weather and what he called a "vicious, mud-slinging campaign" filled with smear tactics that had driven many people away from the election.

* "After tomorrow, Bulgaria will be more stable and calmer,"* Vitanov said.

He described the trend in the initial exit poll figures, which showed Yotova in the lead, as consistent with public expectations. MP Dimitar Zdravkov also said the results followed a logical pattern.

Vitanov said turnout had increased by almost one-third, calling the rise unprecedented. He noted that participation in a presidential runoff had been higher only twice in Bulgaria's democratic history and said turnout this time was nearly 10 percentage points higher. He maintained that the campaign had succeeded in mobilizing voters and that there were solid grounds to consider the president-elect's mandate fully legitimate.

Kiril Valchev, Yotova's running mate, was the first to arrive at the campaign headquarters in the National Palace of Culture (NDK). Asked whether Bulgaria would have a woman president, he replied: "I am certain of it," BTA reported.

Yotova also arrived at the campaign headquarters.