Published 14 hours ago • loading... • Updated 4 hours ago
Presidential race in Bulgaria heads to runoff due to record low turnout
On Sunday, President Iliana Iotova narrowly led Bulgaria's first round of presidential elections, exit polls showed. She will face Andrey Gyurov, a banker and former caretaker prime minister, in the November 1 runoff.
Voting occurred amid security concerns following four drone attacks on ships in the Black Sea this month, which left 21 people missing in suspected spillover from the Russia-Ukraine war.
Iotova scored between 35 and 36.5 percent of the vote, while Gyurov secured between 32.2 and 32.5 percent. Turnout was only around 20 percent, according to polling agencies.
Promising to be a "president of peace," Iotova said she wanted to address "the dire issue of poverty." Gyurov meanwhile said he wanted "a Bulgaria that looks forward, a country that is European, free, and proud."
Iotova took over this year as president of Bulgaria, a European Union and NATO member state, when Prime Minister Rumen Radev stepped down to run in parliamentary elections.
After counting 98.99 per cent of the votes, Ilian Yotov leads, and Andrei Gürov holds second place, with preliminary indications that they may meet in the second round on November 1.