First results indicate Iotova’s victory in Bulgarian presidential election | Election news

Acting President Iotova would become the country’s first elected female head of state if official results confirm her victory.

Acting President Iliana Iotova is apparently the winner of the second round of the Bulgarian presidential election, according to the first results, with her rival having admitted defeat.

Iotova, who advocates dialogue with Russia and opposes military aid to Ukraine, received 58 percent of the vote in Sunday’s runoff, according to tallies from several polling agencies.

If the official results confirm it, she will become Bulgaria’s first elected female head of state.

His opponent, former interim Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov, is said to be behind at around 38 percent.

Gyurov, backed by the pro-Western opposition, said the results should be accepted as they are.

“This is how Bulgarian citizens voted,” he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Iotova in an article on X. “From security and defense to our competitiveness and energy independence, I look forward to continuing our joint work,” she said.

Exit polls put voter turnout at between 27 and 29 percent, slightly higher than last week’s first round, which saw a record turnout of 23 percent.

Official results are expected Monday with the counting of ballots for the presidency, which is largely ceremonial.

Iotova, 61, took over as interim president in January, when her longtime ally, Prime Minister Rumen Radev, resigned to run and win a parliamentary election.

“I don’t like either candidate,” Krassimira Kostova, a 64-year-old teacher from the capital Sofia, who voted anyway, told AFP.

Petar Doitchinov, a 67-year-old retired engineer, said he skipped the first round last week because he expected a runoff. He declared that he had voted for “the lesser evil” because neither candidate corresponded to his “vision of democracy”.

The vote comes as 21 people remain missing following a series of drone attacks last month on commercial ships off the Black Sea coast. They are suspected to be the result of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Prime Minister Radev said the attacks appeared to serve Moscow’s interests and summoned the Russian ambassador, although his government said there was no evidence linking them directly to Moscow.

Both presidential candidates condemned the attacks and called for a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine.

Gyurov, a banker and former interim prime minister, criticized Iotova in a televised debate for not explicitly blaming Russia. “Russia must end its aggression so that the next steps can be taken,” he said.

Iotova said “peace can only come through negotiation.” After the vote, she declared that she wanted “Bulgaria to be strong in a strong Europe” and “sovereign in its decisions”.

In the first round of voting last week, Iotova won 35 percent, to Gyurov’s 32 percent, a much narrower gap than major opinion polls of 20 points had predicted for Iotova.

Political analyst Teodor Slavev told the AFP news agency that voters found Iotova’s “unconvincing response to Russian threats in the Black Sea.”