The Central Election Commission’s final decision confirms that Iotova and running mate Kiril Valchev defeated former caretaker prime minister Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev. The vote completes a remarkable transfer of political influence after Radev left the presidency, won April’s parliamentary election and formed a government. It also puts two competing approaches to the war in Ukraine and Black Sea security into sharper focus.
A decisive result after a narrow first round
Iliana Iotova won Bulgaria’s presidential runoff on 1 November with 1,093,852 votes, or 57.566%, according to the Central Election Commission’s final Decision No. 441. Her ticket with vice-presidential candidate Kiril Valchev defeated the pairing of Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev, which received 750,251 votes, or 39.483%. Another 56,080 voters selected the option stating that they supported none of the candidates. The commission formally declared Iotova president and Valchev vice-president on 3 November.
The result followed a much closer first round on 25 October. The Iotova–Valchev ticket received 34.76%, against 31.95% for Gyurov–Kandev, leaving both below the majority required for an outright victory. The CEC therefore ordered a second round for 1 November. Iotova’s final margin was 343,601 votes, turning a contest that began with a gap of less than three percentage points into a clearer win. The April parliamentary election was a separate contest and did not produce these presidential figures.
Sources: РЕШЕНИЕ № 441-ПВР · Central Election Commission Announces Final Results of the Presidential Elections, Declares Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev Elected President and Vice-President of Bulgaria · РЕШЕНИЕ № 417-ПВР · UPDATED Final Results: Iotova-Valchev Win First Round of Presidential Election with 34.76%, Gurov-Kandev Second with 31.95%
A historic first, after nine years as vice-president
Iotova, born on 24 October 1964, was 62 when she won the runoff. She had served as Rumen Radev’s vice-president since the pair first took office in January 2017 and was re-elected alongside him in 2021. Radev announced his resignation as president on 19 January 2026, then left office after the Constitutional Court terminated his powers on 23 January. Iotova, as vice-president, assumed the presidency and served as acting head of state during the remainder of his term.
The election makes Iotova the first woman elected president of Bulgaria, although she had already been exercising the office in an acting capacity for more than nine months. Her new elected term is due to begin in January 2027; until then, she is completing the term that began with Radev’s re-election. The distinction matters: the 1 November vote was not her first day as head of state, but it gave her a direct electoral mandate of her own. It also elected Kiril Valchev as vice-president.
Sources: ILIANA IOTOVA · Rumen Radev · Sociologist Parvan Simeonov looks beyond numbers in Bulgaria’s presidential vote · Bulgaria's Iotova wins presidential runoff, near-final results show · Iliana Iotova is Bulgaria’s 7th president and first woman elected to the post
Radev gains an aligned presidency
The political backdrop was established in a different election. On 19 April, Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria coalition won 44.594% of the parliamentary vote and 131 of the National Assembly’s 240 seats, giving it an outright majority. It was the eighth parliamentary election in Bulgaria since 2021, after protests over corruption and planned tax increases helped bring down the previous government in December 2025. Parliament elected Radev prime minister on 8 May, and Progressive Bulgaria formed a single-party government.
Radev openly backed Iotova, and Reuters described her victory as a political boost for the prime minister. Their partnership is unusually close: she was his deputy for nine years before he moved from the presidency into parliamentary politics. The result may reduce the likelihood of public friction between the two offices. But this is political alignment, not a merger of powers. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic; the prime minister leads the executive, while the president has mainly representative responsibilities and limited veto powers.
Sources: Rumen Radev · Резултати :: Избори за народни представители 19 април 2026 · Bulgaria's Iotova wins presidential runoff, near-final results show · Bulgaria National Assembly April 2026 Election | Election results | Bulgaria | IPU Parline: global data on national parliaments
A victory built on a limited turnout
The scale of Iotova’s win should be read alongside the number of people who voted. BNT, reporting the CEC’s final figures, put runoff turnout at 28.67%, with 1,902,933 voters casting ballots. The commission recorded 6,584,025 eligible voters for the first round; measured against that electorate, Iotova’s 1.09 million votes amount to roughly one registered voter in six. Participation was higher than in the first round, when 1,525,034 people voted—about 23% of the 6,584,025 eligible voters recorded by the CEC, a record low—but remained low for a national election.
That gap between a decisive share of votes cast and a narrow share of the electorate is central to the result’s political meaning. Sociologist Parvan Simeonov told Radio Bulgaria that the low participation suggested many voters did not attach much importance to the presidency or understand its role clearly. He also noted that this was a presidential-only election, not a vote held alongside parliamentary contests that might draw more people to the polls. The result is formally declared, but it does not show that most eligible Bulgarians actively endorsed Iotova’s programme.
Sources: РЕШЕНИЕ № 441-ПВР · Central Election Commission Announces Final Results of the Presidential Elections, Declares Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev Elected President and Vice-President of Bulgaria · РЕШЕНИЕ № 417-ПВР · Bulgaria's Iotova wins presidential runoff, near-final results show · Meeting with Supporters in Varna, Iliana Iotova Speaks of Dialogue, Unity and Negotiated Solution to Ukraine War
Two different emphases on Ukraine
The campaign exposed a real difference in foreign-policy emphasis. Iotova argued that the war in Ukraine had no military solution and called for negotiations, saying Europe should develop its own proposal for ending the conflict. She also said that no Bulgarian soldier would be sent to Ukraine while she was president and opposed Bulgaria joining the “coalition of the willing”. Those statements support describing her as favouring diplomacy and rejecting troop deployment; they should not be inflated into a claim that she has rejected every possible form of military assistance.
Gyurov campaigned on a more explicitly pro-European security platform and had a record of cooperation with Kyiv as caretaker prime minister. In March, he signed a security cooperation agreement with Ukraine for at least ten years that provided for continued Bulgarian military assistance, defence-industrial cooperation and possible joint production of drones and ammunition. Gyurov also won among Bulgarians voting abroad: Radio Bulgaria reported 56.23% for his ticket against 41.55% for Iotova’s, based on more than 99% of overseas protocols. The contrast shows competing priorities, not a simple referendum on Europe versus Russia.
Sources: Bulgaria's Iotova wins presidential runoff, near-final results show · Meeting with Supporters in Varna, Iliana Iotova Speaks of Dialogue, Unity and Negotiated Solution to Ukraine War · Ukraine and Bulgaria Signed a Security Cooperation Agreement · Iliana Iotova is Bulgaria’s 7th president and first woman elected to the post
The presidency’s influence—and its limits
The security debate was not abstract. During October, a series of drone attacks struck commercial vessels in and near Bulgaria’s Black Sea economic zone. By 6 November, the Associated Press reported that nine cargo ships and tankers had been hit over 24 days, leaving at least 30 sailors dead or missing. Reuters reported that both Iotova and Gyurov condemned the attacks; Radev said their outcome benefited Russia. The attacks’ wider connection to the Russia–Ukraine war was clear, but responsibility for individual strikes was not uniformly established, so the incidents should not be attributed to a specific actor without evidence.
Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 and adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, placing its next foreign-policy choices inside a deeply integrated European framework. Iotova’s victory may give Radev a more cooperative relationship with the head of state and reinforce his political position, but the presidency cannot by itself determine military aid, sanctions or the government’s diplomatic line. Those decisions depend on the cabinet and parliament as well as Bulgaria’s European and NATO commitments. The central question is therefore not whether power has formally fused, but how the aligned institutions will use their separate constitutional roles.
Sources: Bulgaria's Iotova wins presidential runoff, near-final results show · Drone attacks in Black Sea pose new challenges to Bulgarian border police, in photos · Eleven sailors missing after drone sinks ship off Bulgaria · Bulgaria
