BERLIN
Bulgaria’s acting President Iliana Yotova was heading for a decisive victory in Sunday’s presidential runoff against her pro-Western challenger, according to exit polls.
Completed parallel counts by five major polling agencies put Yotova’s share of the vote at between 56.6% and 58.2%, compared with 38.6% to 40.6% for Andrey Gyurov.
“We accept the results, no matter how surprising they are,” Gyurov told a press conference in Sofia, adding that while the campaign is ending, the responsibility is not.
Yotova, a longtime figure within the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), improved on her first-round result from last weekend, when she finished with 34.76% against Gyurov at 31.95%. Her campaign emphasized no additional arms support for Ukraine and instead called for peace through a diplomatic solution, in contrast to her rival.
The election follows April’s parliamentary vote in which Progressive Bulgaria, led by former President Rumen Radev, won 131 of the National Assembly’s 240 seats and an outright majority.
Yotova, who previously served as Radev’s vice president, assumed the acting presidency after he resigned in January. Progressive Bulgaria has backed her bid for a full five-year mandate.
Gyurov, a former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, had warned during the campaign that a Yotova victory would leave no real counterweight at the top of the state, since Progressive Bulgaria already controls the government.
On the European Union and security policy, he criticized the government’s hesitation, reduced support for Ukraine, and slow coordination with NATO and EU partners, arguing that the approach has left Bulgaria more exposed and turned it into a weak link on the alliance’s eastern flank.
