Bulgaria has elected Iliana Iotova as its first female president, near-final official results showed on Monday, in a runoff that also handed a political boost to Prime Minister Rumen Radev, who had backed her candidacy.
With 99.95% of precinct protocols processed, the Iotova ticket won 57.58% of the vote, or about 1.1 million ballots, according to Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission. Her rival, former caretaker prime minister Andrey Gyurov, took 39.47%, or about 749,500 votes, while 2.95% of voters chose the “I support no one” option.
Iotova, 61, a former member of the European Parliament, has served as Bulgaria’s acting president since January, after Radev resigned to enter — and win — a parliamentary race. Her victory now gives her an elected mandate in her own right, in a role that is largely ceremonial: in Bulgaria, parliament holds most decision-making powers.
The vote took place against a tense backdrop. A series of drone attacks in the past month on merchant ships off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast — a NATO and European Union member state — has killed at least 24 seafarers, drawn international condemnation and stoked concern about the growing reach of the war in Ukraine.
Both candidates condemned the attacks, but they offered voters sharply different directions on the war itself. Iotova, like Radev, has called for a diplomatic end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, while Gyurov, who secured the support of pro-Western, reformist parties, has long expressed support for Ukraine and signed a security cooperation agreement with Kyiv during his time as premier.
The runoff followed a first round on 25 October that gave no candidate the majority needed for an outright victory. Iotova led that round with 34.6% of the vote, ahead of Gyurov on 32%, sending the two into Sunday’s second round. Turnout was low, a pattern that has marked Bulgarian elections in recent years, though final turnout figures were still being confirmed when the near-final results were reported.
Iotova’s win consolidates Radev’s political position at a moment of heightened regional insecurity, and it places at the head of state a figure who has argued that diplomacy, rather than deeper military entanglement, should shape Bulgaria’s response to the war next door. How far that stance can shape policy in a parliamentary system — where the prime minister and parliament hold the real levers — will be the test of her presidency.
Sources: Reuters, “Bulgaria’s Iotova wins presidential runoff, near-final results show” (2 November 2026), republished by SRN News: https://srnnews.com/bulgarias-iotova-wins-presidential-runoff-near-final-results-show/
