In brief
Bulgaria’s runoff presidential election is scheduled for Sunday, November 1, 2026, following a first round where no ticket secured a majority. The finalists, Andrey Gurov with Georgi Kandev and Iliana Iotova with Kiril Valchev, will compete while voters benefit from extensive machine voting and the Elections 360° mobile application that offers real‑time results and verification tools. The final outcome remains pending, leaving the nation and its diaspora awaiting the official announcement within the next three days.
Bulgaria’s presidential election will move from a first round on October 25 to a runoff Sunday, November 1 after no ticket won the majority vote. The finalists are Andrey Gurov and Georgi Kandev versus Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev, and the official results will be announced within three days, the Central Election Commission (CEC) confirmed.
In the initial contest the Iotova‑Valchev ticket captured 34.759 % of the vote, while the Gurov‑Kandev pair came close behind with 31.952 %. No ticket met the 50 % threshold required for outright victory, triggering a second round between the top two entries.
Polling stations across Bulgaria will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m., though the CEC allows voting until 9 p.m. if voters are still present. The same schedule applies to overseas polling stations, ensuring a uniform voting window for Bulgarians abroad.
Machine voting will be widely employed – 9,373 polling centers will host electronic vote‑takers, with 2,249 equipped with two machines each. In total, 11,622 voting machines will count ballots, a figure officialised by Parliament on July 30, 2026 when it approved a move to "exclusively machine‑based voting at polling stations with more than 300 registered voters."
The CEC’s Elections 360° application serves as a comprehensive digital hub for voters. It lists presidential and vice‑presidential candidates, offers an interactive map of polling locations, and features a machine‑voting simulator that lets users practise the vote‑taking process before election day. The app also allows citizens to verify their polling station via the Directorate General for Civil Registration and Administrative Services (GRAO) and to submit direct reports to the CEC by email.
Real‑time monitoring of election‑day activity is available through the evideo.bg portal, where each section commission can post electronic protocols capturing paper‑ballot results, machine‑vote tallies, and verification counts. The platform also displays results geographically, including for stations abroad.
In a legislative change on the same day as the vote‑machine rollout, Parliament repealed the prior restriction that limited polling stations abroad to 20 in non‑EU countries, thereby allowing Bulgarian voters in more outlets to participate. Accessibility for voters with visual impairments or mobility constraints has been addressed by locating designated polling stations on ground floors, with instructions on choosing a suitable site.
While the election logistics and candidate standings are now clear, the key question that remains is the outcome of the runoff. The CEC has stated that it will release the final tallies within three days of the Sunday vote, leaving both domestic and international audiences to await confirmation of the new president.
