Bulgaria's interim President Iliana Iotova won Sunday's presidential election, according to several exit polls, with the provisional estimates putting her ahead of her rival Andreï Guiourov. Official results have not yet confirmed the outcome.
Iotova was credited with between 50.7% and 52.5% of the vote, while Guiourov, a former interim prime minister backed by the pro-Western opposition, was estimated at between 43.4% and 44%. If the result is confirmed, Iotova would become the first woman elected to head the Bulgarian state.
In the first round on October 25, Iotova led Guiourov by 2.8 points. Turnout in that vote was historically low, with 23% of registered voters going to the polls, according to electoral authorities. Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. for Sunday's highly polarized runoff, in which the two candidates sought support from voters with opposing political orientations.
The election took place against a backdrop of growing economic difficulties and increasingly frequent drone attacks on ships in the Black Sea, which have killed and left several sailors missing. During a televised debate on Thursday, Iotova said that "peace can only come through negotiations" and argued that sending more money and more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine would only lead to more destruction and deaths on both sides. Guiourov said that "Russia must end its aggression" before further steps could be taken, and accused Iotova of failing to directly name Moscow as the source of threats. Bulgaria, historically close to Russia, remains deeply divided over its relationship with the country.
Center-left Prime Minister Roumen Radev has backed Iotova's position that a ceasefire in Ukraine and peace negotiations are the only certain guarantee of ending attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea.
Iotova, 62, is a former journalist and Socialist Party figure who served in the European Parliament before being elected vice-president alongside Radev in 2016 and 2021. She succeeded him in January after his resignation to run in legislative elections, which his camp won in April. She has also promised to tackle what she called the "terrible problem of poverty" in Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union.
Sources: Le Monde International.