Bulgaria's acting President Yotova leads in exit polls of runoff election

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - Exit polls show Bulgaria's acting President Iliana Yotova leading the country's presidential runoff on Sunday, narrowly ahead of former caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov.

A Trend exit poll commissioned by broadcaster NOVA put Yotova at 51.6% and Gyurov at 43.4%. A separate Myara survey for the same network showed Yotova with 51.1% and Gyurov at 44.6%.

In the first round of the elections last weekend, Yotova and her vice presidential candidate Kiril Valchev finished with 34.76%, while Gyurov and his running mate Georgi Kandev got 31.95%. Neither secured a majority, sending the contest to a runoff.

The election comes nearly six months after April’s parliamentary vote in which Progressive Bulgaria, led by former President Rumen Radev, secured 131 of the National Assembly’s 240 seats and an outright majority.

Yotova, who previously served as Radev’s vice president, assumed the acting presidency after he resigned in January. Backed by Progressive Bulgaria, she is seeking a full five-year mandate.

She has opposed further military aid to Ukraine, repeatedly said there is no military solution, and called for a “coalition for peace” to pursue a diplomatic end to the conflict that began in 2022.

Gyurov, an economist and former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, served as caretaker prime minister in the months before the April parliamentary elections. During the campaign, he warned that a Yotova victory would leave no real counterweight at the top of the state, since Progressive Bulgaria already controls the government.

On the EU and security policy, he has criticized the government’s hesitation, reduced support for Ukraine, and slow coordination with NATO and EU partners, arguing that the approach has left Bulgaria more exposed and turned it into a weak link on the alliance’s eastern flank.

Ayhan Şimşek