In brief
The runoff, held on Nov. 1, pits incumbent President Iliana Iotova and vice‑presidential partner Kiril Valchev against challenger Andrey Gurov and Georgi Kandev. Exit polls will be released at 8:00 p.m., with official results expected by Wednesday. Interior Ministry reports note a large number of violation notices, mainly vote‑buying, though no serious problems were reported during the vote. The final outcome remains uncertain.
On Sunday, November 1, Bulgarians went to the polls for the second round of the presidential election, choosing between incumbent President Iliana Iotova (with Kiril Valchev) and challenger Andrey Gurov (with Georgi Kandev). The runoff followed a tightly contested first round on October 25, where Iotova‑Valchev had received 34.76 % of the vote and Gurov‑Kandev 31.95 %. Nearly 6.6 million citizens were eligible to cast ballots for a five‑year term that ends in January 2027.
Both tickets draw support from broad coalitions. Iotova‑Valchev are backed by the ruling Progressive Bulgaria party and the Bulgarian Socialist Party, among others, while Gurov‑Kandev receive backing from We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria. The parties pledged voice in the decision, and their leaders were noted for their previous public roles: Iotova had served twice as vice‑president and stepped in as head of state after President Rumen Radev resigned in January this year; Valchev is director‑general of the Bulgarian News Agency; Gurov is an adjunct professor of finance and briefly acted as caretaker prime minister earlier this year; and Kandev worked as a police officer and acted as secretary‑general at the Ministry of Interior.
The Interior Ministry reported that the polling stations opened calmly, with no major incidents. However, by 8 a.m. the ministry had gathered 415 reports of electoral violations nationwide. Most of these concerns—305 in total—relate to vote‑buying. Others note unlawful campaigning (34), a single case of corporate voting, and 75 other election‑related infractions. As a result, eight criminal proceedings were opened, with two in Kyustendil and one each in Sofia, Varna, Pernik, Ruse, Stara Zagora, and Shumen. Over 1,800 warning notices were issued, the majority in Sofia (437) as well as in Plovdiv (267) and Pazardzhik (226). A total of 346 police operations were carried out to safeguard citizens’ political rights, and ten people were detained under the Interior Ministry Act.
During the day, 12 cases saw assistance offered to Regional and Section Election Commissions. The ministry’s report also noted that up to October 31, it had accepted 393 reports of violations, of which eight criminal proceedings had already been started and 1,691 warning notices issued. These figures illustrate the ministry’s monitoring process, though it has stated that no significant problems were observed in the actual conduct of the voting.
The ministry highlighted that 305 violations were linked to vote‑buying, 34 to unlawful campaigning, and a single incident involved corporate voting, illustrating the breadth of the concerns addressed at the month’s end. The 8 criminal proceedings, 1,822 warning notices and 346 operations demonstrate a coordinated effort to manage any irregularities during the early phase of the campaign.
Exit polls will start to be released at 8:00 p.m. local time, with official results expected no later than Wednesday, according to Xinhua. The close contest left seat allocations uncertain and has heightened the public’s interest in the immediate outcome. There are no further provisional counts published yet, and the final tally will be required before the new president is sworn in at the end of January.
In summary, the runoff was conducted peacefully but accompanied by a substantial number of violation reports, mainly of a vote‑buying nature. The two main tickets enjoy backing from diverse political groups and have distinctive backgrounds. Official results are anticipated at the beginning of Wednesday, while exit polls will be released in the evening following the vote.
What remains unclear are the final vote tallies the government will report, how the violation incidents may influence public perception and whether any additional legal or procedural actions could alter the outcome. Only the exit poll release time and the Wednesday deadline for official results are currently specified; the detailed impact of the reported violations, and ultimately the victor, is still unknown.
