Bulgaria is holding the second round of its presidential election on 1 November. The race for head of state is between incumbent President Iliana Yotova and pro-Western opposition candidate Andrey Gyurov.
This is reported by AFP.
Polling stations opened at 7:00 and will remain open until 20:00. If there are still queues when voting is due to end, polling may be extended until 21:00.
In the first round, Yotova won 35% of the vote, while Gyurov took 32%. Turnout, however, was just 23%, a record low.
Yotova, a long-time ally of former president Rumen Radev, supports Bulgaria’s membership of the EU and NATO, but at the same time backs talks with Russia and opposes providing military aid to Ukraine.
During a televised debate ahead of the run-off, Gyurov criticised her for refusing to directly blame Russia for attacks on merchant ships in the Black Sea.
The 62-year-old Yotova is a former journalist and Member of the European Parliament. In 2016 and 2021, she was elected Vice-President of Bulgaria alongside Rumen Radev. This year she took over as head of state after his resignation, when he decided to run in the parliamentary elections.
Her opponent, 50-year-old Andrey Gyurov, previously served as acting prime minister and was deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank. He advocates strengthening ties with the West and supports Ukraine.