Bulgaria's presidential election will go to a runoff on 1 November after exit polls put sitting president Iliana Iotova narrowly ahead of Andrey Gyurov, with turnout at only around 22%. Bulgarians voted on Sunday, 25 October, in the first round of the election for president and vice-president, choosing from 27 tickets. No pair came close to the majority needed to win outright.

The exit poll figures

According to the exit poll conducted by Myara, a media partner of Bulgarian National Radio, Iotova and running mate Kiril Valchev stood at 35.6% of the vote, ahead of Gyurov and Georgi Kandev on 32.5%. A second BNR media partner, Alpha Research, put the pairs at 35.3% and 32.4% respectively. Kostadin Kostadinov and Petar Volgin were third on around 12.6% to 13.5%. About 4.7% to 4.9% of voters selected "None of the above". These are exit polls, not official results, and the final count may move the figures.

Why a runoff, and why turnout matters

For a president to be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive more than half of all valid votes and voter turnout must exceed 50% of all eligible voters; otherwise a runoff is held within seven days, with the candidate receiving the most votes declared the winner. Turnout stood at 22.2% to 22.3% in the exit polls — described by observers as a record low, attributed to mistrust in politicians and voter apathy. The runoff will pit the incumbent, backed by the left, against Gyurov, backed by pro-Western opposition parties, in a contest shaped by the war in Ukraine, Black Sea security and rising energy prices.