Yotova leads in exit polls for Bulgarian presidency

Iliana Yotova is projected to win the Bulgarian presidential runoff, exit polls showed on Sunday.

The acting president faces Andrey Gyurov in the second round of voting. Yotova won the first round on Oct. 25 by 2.8 percentage points. Election officials reported that only 23% of eligible voters cast ballots in that initial contest.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time for the final vote. Officials expect to announce the official results on Monday. The campaign took place against a backdrop of economic hardship and increased drone attacks on Black Sea shipping. Several sailors have died or gone missing in those incidents.

Yotova runs as an independent candidate. She assumed the role of acting president earlier this year when Rumen Radev resigned his head of state position. Radev stepped down to lead his Moscow-friendly Progressive Bulgaria party in the general election. That party has endorsed Yotova for the presidency.

The candidate said she will keep Bulgaria on its European path while seeking better relations with Russia and the lifting of sanctions. During a television debate this week, Yotova argued that peace could come only through negotiations. She proposed a security meeting involving all six Black Sea countries to sign a moratorium on hostilities. Both she and Radev have called for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Ukraine.

Gyurov is an economist and former deputy governor of the central bank. He served as caretaker prime minister in early 2026. The pro-Western, reformist opposition backs his campaign. Gyurov expressed firm support for Ukraine and signed a security cooperation agreement with Kyiv during his premiership. He stated that he wants Bulgaria to be a reliable NATO ally able to stand up for its interests with strong diplomacy.

Gyurov criticized the government for being reluctant to name Russia as the aggressor in the Russia-Ukraine war. He called for identifying the threat and for Bulgarian participation in EU decisions from the outset. During the debate, he warned that when a country has no position and is not at the table, it is in fact on the menu. Observers noted that a Yotova victory would keep the presidency in the hands of the ruling majority.