Bulgarians are casting ballots Sunday in the second round of the presidential election, deciding between acting President Iliana Yotova and former caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov after neither candidate secured a majority in the first round.
As of 4 pm local time (1400GMT), turnout stood at 19.33%, Central Election Commission spokesperson Stoyanka Balova announced at a briefing. That compares with the 16.04% initially reported at the same time in the Oct. 25 first round, when overall participation reached 22.98%, the lowest in the post-communist period.
Polling stations opened at 7 am local time (0500GMT) and are set to close at 8 pm (1800GMT), with voting extendable until 9 pm (1900GMT) if voters remain in line. Yotova is running with Kiril Valchev as her vice-presidential candidate, while Gyurov is running with Georgi Kandev.
After casting her vote in Sofia, Yotova said she voted for a Bulgaria that makes its own decisions, shapes its own destiny and maintains a strong voice on the international stage.
"I voted for the president of peace. For seeking and finding national consensus through dialogue, for institutions that work for citizens, for a strong state with its own foreign policy in a strong Europe," she told reporters.
Gyurov, backed by pro-Western opposition parties, said he voted for a secure, stable and European Bulgaria. "We can choose the future, not the past. The decision is now in the hands of all Bulgarian citizens," he said.
The election comes nearly six months after the April parliamentary vote, in which Progressive Bulgaria, led by former President Rumen Radev, secured 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. Backed by Progressive Bulgaria, she is now seeking a full five-year mandate. She has opposed further military aid to Ukraine, repeatedly said that there is no military solution and called for a "coalition for peace" to pursue a diplomatic end to the conflict.
Her rival Gyurov, an economist and former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, served as caretaker prime minister in the months before the April parliamentary elections. During the campaign, he warned that a Yotova victory would leave no real counterweight at the top of the state, since Progressive Bulgaria already controls the government.
On EU and security policy, he has 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.
