The Russia-friendly incumbent Iliana Yotova has clearly won the runoff for the presidency in Bulgaria. After almost all election protocols had been counted, Yotova comes to 57.5 per cent of the vote according to the Central Election Commission, while her challenger Andrey Gyurov takes 39.4 per cent, as ORF and the “Standard” reported on Monday, 2 November. The election had taken place on Sunday.
Yotova is thus the first woman to be directly elected to the Bulgarian presidency, the “Standard” writes. The 62-year-old belongs to the camp of Prime Minister Rumen Radev, who is regarded as Russia-friendly. She had already held the office on an acting basis since January, after Radev had resigned in order to win the parliamentary election in April with his party and become prime minister. Gyurov, a 50-year-old former interim prime minister and former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, was supported by pro-Western and reform-oriented parties.
A president and a premier in the Moscow camp
This means that in future both the head of state and the head of government stand for close cooperation with Russia. The “Financial Times” sees Bulgaria moving a further step towards Moscow as a result of Yotova’s victory. Radev had already declared that Sofia would no longer supply weapons to Ukraine. He also refused to take part in a NATO initiative for drone defence and threatened a veto against sanctions on Russia. Yotova, a long-standing ally of Radev, professes Bulgaria’s EU and NATO membership but positions herself as a “president of peace” and presses for negotiations with Russia.
“Additional funds for Ukraine and the delivery of new, more modern weapons only lead to even more destruction and to the death of many people on both sides,” Yotova said according to BBC News Україна.
Shortly before the end of the campaign she called for Russia to be brought back to the negotiating table; Bulgaria should serve as a “diplomatic channel”. She told the television channel Nova TV in Sofia that it would be “much more effective if these diplomatic communication channels to Russia were open in the name of the entire European Union”.
Drone attacks overshadow the vote
The election fell in a tense situation: off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast at least six merchant ships had been attacked by drones in recent weeks according to the authorities, as the “Presse” and ORF report. In the Bulgarian economic zone and also off the neighbouring country Romania such attacks accumulated. Ukraine holds Russia responsible. The government in Sofia has so far not clearly stated whether Moscow is behind the attacks.
Gyurov criticised Yotova in a television debate for not directly holding Russia responsible for the attacks. “Russia must end its aggression so that further steps are possible. Let us name the country from which these threats come,” he said according to BBC News Україна. He accused the government of inaction: it had had information about the escalation for months but had taken no measures – even the National Security Council had only been convened after the second wave of attacks, when ships sank in the Black Sea and sailors died. After the first round Gyurov had spoken of a decision “between two personalities, two directions and two ways of governing”.
A divided electorate abroad
The count shows a split picture: according to the Bulgarian broadcaster NOVA, Gyurov was ahead in the USA with 67.5 per cent, while Yotova came to 30.5 per cent there. In Russia the result was reversed – Yotova won there according to NOVA with 84.0 per cent, Gyurov received 13.7 per cent. Turnout was low: the Central Election Commission gives it as 27.5 per cent, while the “Presse”, citing pollsters, reports 29 per cent shortly before the polls closed. In the first round a week earlier it had stood at 23 per cent according to the Kyiv Independent.
The political scientist Ruslan Stefanov, director of the Sofia Centre for Democratic Studies, does not expect according to BBC News Україна that the new president will fundamentally divert Sofia from its Western course – the country is too firmly anchored in NATO and the EU for that. Bulgaria could, however, like Hungary under Viktor Orbán, become a source of difficulties for its Western partners. Other EU states had by now learned to contain such challenges more effectively.
Reactions from abroad came immediately: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Yotova according to the Kyiv Independent and declared that she looked forward to further cooperation “from security and defence to competitiveness and energy independence”. Austria’s Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen wrote on Bluesky that he looked forward “to our continued cooperation for the good of a strong, united, secure and prosperous Europe”, as ORF reports.
The opposition had accused Radev during the campaign of having used state resources and his office for the campaign in favour of Yotova. The Central Election Commission rejected the accusations; Gyurov’s campaign team, by contrast, wants to go to court according to BBC News Україна. The presidency in Bulgaria is largely representative, but the office-holder is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, can veto laws – parliament can override this with a majority – and appoint transitional governments. The foreign intelligence service is also subordinate to the president.
