As of 9:00 PM IST, Sunday 25 October 2026. Voting is still under way and no exit polls or results have been published. Polls close at 8 PM local time (11:30 PM IST) and can stay open until 9 PM (12:30 AM IST on Monday) where voters are still queuing. Based on reporting by Euronews (with AP and AFP), Bulgaria's state news agency BTA, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), Dnes.bg and the Central Election Commission (CEC). Turnout figures from polling agencies are estimates, and opinion polls are not predictions.
Bulgarians are voting on Sunday, 25 October, to choose the country's seventh president, as BTA put it. The race is the first big test for Prime Minister Rumen Radev since his Progressive Bulgaria party came first in the parliamentary election in April. The early signs point to low turnout, which makes a second round on 1 November likely.
The vote at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Candidates | 27 presidential and vice-presidential pairs, a record according to Euronews |
| Eligible voters | About 6.6 million (BTA: 6.59 million; the CEC turnout table uses 6,637,238), including 46,001 first-time voters |
| Voting hours | 7 AM to 8 PM local (10:30 AM to 11:30 PM IST), extendable to 9 PM |
| Polling stations abroad | 613 in 60 countries, the most in the UK (82), Turkey (78) and Germany (70) |
| Machine voting | At 9,373 polling stations in Bulgaria, using 11,622 machines |
| Official result | CEC to announce within 48 hours of polls closing |
| Possible runoff | Sunday, 1 November 2026 |
What it takes to win in the first round
Under Bulgaria's constitution, a candidate pair wins outright only if two conditions are both met. It must get more than half of the valid votes, and more than half of all eligible voters must have taken part. If either test fails, the top two pairs go to a runoff.
Who is running
- Iliana Yotova (also spelt Iotova) is the incumbent. She became president this year when Radev stepped down to run in the parliamentary election. She is backed by Radev's party, favours dialogue with Moscow and opposes military aid to Ukraine, according to Euronews. A former journalist and MEP, she served as Radev's vice-president from 2017. If she wins, she would be the first woman elected president of Bulgaria.
- Andrey Gyurov is an economist and former deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank. He served as caretaker prime minister in the first months of 2026 and signed a security cooperation agreement with Kyiv. He is backed by pro-Western reformist opposition parties.
- Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of the pro-Russian far-right Vazrazhdane party, is running third in the polls.
Pre-election polls cited by Euronews put Yotova at 41% to 47%, Gyurov at 28% to 31% and Kostadinov at 10% to 13%. On those numbers, no one would clear 50% of the vote.
Turnout so far
- Official: the CEC's published figure, timed at 11 AM local, was 5.80%, or 385,092 voters. HorizonDesk had not seen a later official update at the time of writing.
- Polling agencies: Gallup International estimated turnout at 18.3% by 4 PM local (7:30 PM IST), and Alpha Research put it at 18.5%, Dnes.bg reported. Earlier agency estimates were 8.6% at noon and 13.6% at 2 PM.
- Alpha Research told BNR that turnout at 11:30 AM was 3.7 percentage points lower than at the same point of the 2021 presidential election. Bulgarian news agency BGNES described the turnout as a record low. Final figures will confirm whether that holds.
Euronews reported projections of turnout below 40% for the day. That is far short of the 50% needed for a first-round win, so a runoff on 1 November looks likely.
What the campaign was about
Bulgaria is a member of the European Union and NATO. The campaign focused on Russia's war in Ukraine and on recent drone attacks on commercial ships off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast. Those attacks have raised security concerns and led the government to ask its allies for help with maritime security. Rising energy prices and inflation were the other big issue, especially for families in rural areas.
The president's powers are limited compared with the prime minister's. However, the president represents the country abroad, is commander-in-chief of the armed forces and appoints caretaker governments when parliament cannot form one. That last power has mattered in recent years of repeated snap elections. A Yotova win would strengthen Radev's hand, while a Gyurov upset would give the pro-Western opposition a strong voice at the top of the state.
What to watch tonight (IST)
- 11:30 PM: polls close and the first exit polls are expected.
- Through the night and Monday: partial results from the CEC as polling-station records are processed.
- By Tuesday night: the official result, within 48 hours of polls closing.
- 1 November: runoff between the top two pairs, if needed.
Related reading on HorizonDesk
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Sources
- Euronews (with AP, AFP): Bulgaria votes for president in election dominated by Ukraine war and the economy (25 Oct 2026)
- BTA: Bulgaria elects its seventh president (25 Oct 2026)
- Bulgarian National Radio: Voter turnout in Bulgaria's presidential election (25 Oct 2026)
- Bulgarian National Radio: Central Election Commission turnout update (25 Oct 2026)
- Dnes.bg: Turnout between 18.3% and 18.5% at 4 PM (in Bulgarian, 25 Oct 2026)
- Central Election Commission of Bulgaria: Turnout, presidential election 25 October 2026 (in Bulgarian)
