Exit polls put Yotova ahead in Bulgaria runoff

Exit polls on November 1 indicated that Bulgaria’s acting President Iliana Yotova was leading Andrey Gyurov in the presidential runoff, with estimates putting her at about 52% and him at roughly 44% to 45%. The projections suggest Yotova could become the country’s first elected female president, but official runoff results were not yet available in the reports. The election followed an October 25 first round in which Yotova’s ticket received 528,951 votes and Gyurov’s 486,232, according to Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission. The commission reported that 1,525,034 of 6,584,025 eligible voters participated. Neither the vote totals nor turnout met the constitutional requirements for a first-round victory, sending the two leading tickets to a runoff. Yotova, who became acting president after Rumen Radev left the post to lead his party, was endorsed by the governing Progressive Bulgaria party. Gyurov, a former caretaker prime minister, was backed by reformist opposition parties. The contest tested the political standing of Radev’s party, which holds the government, as well as the candidates’ competing approaches to foreign policy and security. The war in Ukraine and security in...