Bulgaria Presidential Runoff: Iotova Wins 57.6% to Become First Woman President

The Bulgaria presidential runoff on Sunday, Nov. 1, made Iliana Iotova the country’s first elected female president, with 57.6% of the vote against 39.5% for former caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov. The Central Election Commission count, with all protocols processed, gave Iotova and her running mate, Kiril Valchev, 1,093,852 votes to 750,251 for Gyurov and Georgi Kandev.

Another 56,080 voters, or 2.95%, chose the ballot option “I do not support anyone.” Iotova’s final margin was 343,601 votes, Novinite reported, a far wider gap than in the first round on Oct. 25, when less than three points separated the two.

Bulgaria presidential runoff results by the numbers

Iotova, 61, carried 28 of Bulgaria’s 31 multi-member electoral districts. Gyurov, 50, won only the 23rd and 24th districts in Sofia plus Kardzhali in the south, according to the commission’s district tables.

The jump is the story of the runoff. In the first round Iotova took 34.8% and Gyurov 32.0%. A week later Iotova added nearly 23 points while Gyurov added about 7.5, a Boston Report calculation from the two official counts. That pattern suggests most voters whose first-round candidates were eliminated moved to Iotova.

Participation stayed low. The commission reported 19.33% turnout at 4 p.m., or 1,282,848 of 6,637,274 eligible voters, Bulgarian National Radio reported. Bulgarian National Radio later put final turnout at about 27%, close to a parallel count of 27.5%. That means roughly one in four Bulgarians on the rolls picked the new head of state.

A diaspora that broke the other way

Bulgarians abroad went against the national trend. Gyurov won 60,413 overseas votes, or 56.4%, to Iotova’s 44,413, or 41.4%, according to the commission’s figures cited by Novinite. The split by country was sharp: in the United States, Gyurov led 67.5% to 30.5%, while in Russia, Iotova took 84% to Gyurov’s 13.7%.

Who Iliana Iotova is, and why the result matters

Iotova, a former member of the European Parliament, served as vice president under Rumen Radev. She became acting president in January, when Radev resigned to enter a parliamentary race. He won that race on what many political analysts considered a Kremlin-friendly ticket, Reuters reported, and is now prime minister. Both Radev and Iotova have called for a diplomatic end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Gyurov, by contrast, ran with the backing of pro-Western reformist parties. As caretaker prime minister earlier this year, he signed a security cooperation agreement with Kyiv. After the count he said, “We accept the results, surprising as they may be,” according to BNR. Iotova told supporters that “people believe that dialogue can lead to good decisions.”

The presidency is largely ceremonial; in Bulgaria, parliament holds most decision-making powers. Still, the president names caretaker governments when parliament deadlocks, signs or returns laws, and serves as commander-in-chief. With Radev running the government and his ally in the presidency, Sofia’s top two offices are now held by close political partners.

The vote also came during a security scare on Bulgaria’s coast. Drone attacks on merchant ships in the Black Sea over the past month have killed at least 24 seafarers, according to Reuters. Both candidates condemned the attacks, and Radev said their outcome “benefits the Russian Federation.” Our earlier reporting covered the Black Sea drone attack on the cargo ship Khoryv and the first round of Bulgaria’s presidential election.

What to watch

Three things stand out. First, whether Iotova uses her powers to back Radev’s line on Ukraine or keeps the office closer to the center, which matters for a NATO and EU member on the Black Sea. Second, whether the reformist camp that backed Gyurov, strongest in Sofia and abroad, regroups before the next parliamentary test. Third, whether turnout near 27% renews Bulgaria’s long-running debate over how to get more people to vote.

Sources

• Central Election Commission (CIK): runoff results
• Novinite: Final results confirm Yotova’s 57.5% victory over Gyurov
• Bulgarian National Radio: Iliana Iotova is Bulgaria’s 7th president and first woman elected to the post
• Bulgarian National Radio: turnout at 19.33% as of 4 p.m.
• Reuters via StreetInsider: Bulgaria elects Iliana Iotova as its first female president