Acting President Iliana Iotova has won Bulgaria’s presidential runoff, becoming the country’s first elected female head of state, according to results reported on Monday.
The vote was held on Sunday, 1 November 2026. With all votes counted on Monday, the Central Election Commission said Iotova secured 57.6% of the vote, while her rival, Andrey Gyurov, candidate of the liberal pro-Western opposition, received 39.5%. Gyurov conceded defeat.
Iotova said she will work for national consensus by bridging political rifts. The result was the first major test for Prime Minister Rumen Radev’s Moscow-friendly Progressive Bulgaria party, which endorsed Iotova. In April’s parliamentary vote, the party won 131 of 240 seats.
Iotova, 62, took over the presidency in January when Radev stepped down to run for parliament, and she was seeking her own elected mandate. She has opposed further Bulgarian military assistance to Ukraine and called for a diplomatic solution and a “coalition for peace”.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated her. Bulgaria’s presidency is primarily ceremonial, but the president leads the armed forces, can veto legislation, signs treaties and appoints ambassadors. Presidents serve five-year terms, for a maximum of two terms, and the inauguration is expected on 22 January.
Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007.
Source: Associated Press, via ETV Bharat. Read the AP report here.
