Initial results indicate victory for Iotova in Bulgarian presidential vote

Acting President Iotova would become nation’s first elected female head of state if official results confirm her win.

Bulgaria's acting President Iliana Iotova casts her run-off vote in Sofia on November 1, 2026 [Spasiyana Sergieva/Reuters]

Acting President Iliana Iotova is the apparent winner of Bulgaria’s presidential run-off, according to initial results, as her rival has conceded defeat.

Iotova, who advocates for dialogue with Russia and opposes military aid to Ukraine, received 58 percent of the vote in Sunday’s run-off , according to several polling agencies’ counts.

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If confirmed by official results, she would become Bulgaria’s first elected female head of state.

Her opponent, former interim Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov, is said to be trailing at about 38 percent.

Gyurov, who is backed by the pro-Western opposition, said the results had to be accepted as they stood.

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

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

Exit polls put voter participation at about 27 to 29 percent, slightly higher ‌than the first-round race last week, which had a record-low turnout of 23 percent.

Official results are expected on Monday as ballots are counted for the presidency, which is largely ceremonial.

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

“I don’t like either of the two candidates,” Krassimira Kostova, a 64-year-old teacher in the capital, Sofia, who voted anyway, told the AFP news agency.

Petar Doitchinov, a 67-year-old retired engineer, said he had skipped the first round last week because he expected a run-off. He said he voted for “the lesser evil”, as neither candidate matched his “vision of democracy”.

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

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

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

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

Iotova said that “peace can come only through negotiations”. After voting, she said 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, with Gyurov on 32 percent, a much narrower gap than the 20-point lead opinion polls had predicted for Iotova.

Political analyst Teodor Slavev told the AFP news agency that voters were passing judgement on “Iotova’s unconvincing response regarding Russian threats in the Black Sea”.

如果官方结果确认她获胜，代理总统伊奥托娃将成为该国首位民选女国家元首。

2026年11月1日，保加利亚代理总统伊利亚娜·约托娃在索非亚参加第二轮投票。[Spasiyana Sergieva/路透社]

根据初步结果，代理总统伊利亚娜·约托娃显然赢得了保加利亚总统选举第二轮投票，因为她的对手已经承认败选。

根据几家民调机构的统计，主张与俄罗斯对话并反对向乌克兰提供军事援助的伊奥托娃在周日的决选中获得了 58% 的选票。

列表 1/3：保加利亚总理称，无人机袭击导致一艘船在保加利亚黑海沿岸沉没

保加利亚民众在俄罗斯对乌克兰战争的阴影下投票选举总统（共3条记录，此为第2条）

保加利亚大选因投票率低而进入第二轮投票（共3条，此为第3条）

如果官方结果确认，她将成为保加利亚首位民选女国家元首。

她的对手，前临时总理安德烈·久罗夫，据称支持率落后约38%。

得到亲西方反对派支持的久罗夫表示，必须接受目前的选举结果。

“这是保加利亚公民的投票结果，”他说。

欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩在X网站上发帖祝贺约托娃。她说：“从安全和国防到我们的竞争力和能源独立，我期待着继续与她携手合作。”

出口民调显示，投票率约为 27% 至 29%，略高于上周第一轮投票的 23% 的历史最低投票率。

预计周一将公布总统选举的正式结果，因为总统选举在很大程度上只是象征性的。

61岁的伊奥托娃于1月份接任代理总统，当时她的长期盟友、总理鲁门·拉德夫辞职参加议会选举并获胜。

“我两个候选人都不喜欢，”64岁的索非亚教师克拉西米拉·科斯托娃告诉法新社，尽管如此，她还是投了票。

67岁的退休工程师彼得·多伊奇诺夫表示，他上周没有参加第一轮投票，因为他预料到会有第二轮投票。他说，他投票给了“两害相权取其轻”的候选人，因为两位候选人都不符合他“对民主的理解”。

此次投票之际，该国黑海沿岸上个月发生一系列针对商船的无人机袭击事件，目前仍有21人失踪。外界怀疑这些失踪事件与俄罗斯对乌克兰的战争有关。

拉德夫总理表示，这些袭击似乎符合莫斯科的利益，并召见了俄罗斯大使，尽管他的政府表示没有证据直接将袭击与莫斯科联系起来。

两位总统候选人都谴责了这些袭击事件，并呼吁通过外交途径结束乌克兰战争。

身为银行家和前看守总理的久罗夫在一次电视辩论中批评约托娃没有明确指责俄罗斯。他说：“俄罗斯必须停止侵略，这样才能采取下一步行动。”

伊奥托娃表示，“和平只能通过谈判实现”。投票结束后，她表示希望“保加利亚在一个强大的欧洲中保持强大”，并“在决策上拥有主权”。

在上周的第一轮投票中，伊奥托娃以 35% 的得票率获胜，久罗夫以 32% 的得票率位居第二，这一差距远小于民意调查预测的伊奥托娃领先 20 个百分点。

政治分析家特奥多尔·斯拉维夫告诉法新社，选民们正在对“伊奥托娃对俄罗斯在黑海的威胁所作出的缺乏说服力的回应”做出评判。