Bulgaria votes in the first round of its presidential election

25 October 2026

Bulgarians have voted in the first round of a presidential election with 27 candidates and about 6.6 million registered voters. Polling ran from 7 am to 8 pm local time. The acting president, Iliana Iotova, who became acting president in January after Rumen Radev resigned the office to enter the parliamentary race, is one of the leading candidates. Andrey Gyurov, a former caretaker prime minister, is backed by pro-Western reformist parties. An Alpha Research poll placed Iotova at 41 per cent and Gyurov at 28 per cent. Turnout must exceed 50 per cent and was expected to be under 40 per cent. A run-off is scheduled for 1 November 2026 if no candidate wins an outright majority. Bulgaria is a member of NATO.