Bulgaria’s Yotova Secures Decisive Presidential Runoff Victory, Exit Polls Show

By Staff, Agencies

Bulgaria’s acting President Iliana Yotova is heading for a decisive victory in Sunday’s presidential runoff against pro-Western challenger Andrey Gyurov, according to exit polls released by five major polling agencies.

Completed parallel counts estimate Yotova’s share of the vote at between 56.6% and 58.2%, placing her well ahead of Gyurov, who secured between 38.6% and 40.6%.

Responding to the projected outcome at a press conference in Sofia, Gyurov acknowledged the results, saying: “We accept the results, no matter how surprising they are.” He added that although the election campaign was coming to an end, political responsibility would remain.

Yotova, a veteran figure in the Bulgarian Socialist Party [BSP], significantly improved her performance compared with the first round last weekend, when she received 34.76% of the vote against Gyurov’s 31.95%.

Her campaign focused on opposing additional military assistance to Ukraine, instead advocating a diplomatic approach to resolving the conflict and prioritizing peace negotiations.

The presidential election follows April’s parliamentary vote, in which Progressive Bulgaria, led by former President Rumen Radev, secured 131 of the National Assembly’s 240 seats, granting the party an outright majority.

Yotova, who previously served as Radev’s vice president, assumed the acting presidency after his resignation in January. Progressive Bulgaria subsequently backed her campaign for a full five-year presidential mandate.

During the campaign, Gyurov, a former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, warned that Yotova’s victory could further concentrate political power, leaving little institutional counterbalance at the highest level of the state, given Progressive Bulgaria’s control of the government.

On European Union relations and security policy, Gyurov criticized the government’s cautious approach, reduced military assistance to Ukraine, and what he described as delays in coordinating with NATO and EU partners.

He argued that Bulgaria’s current policy direction risked weakening its security position and turning the country into a vulnerable link along NATO’s eastern flank.