Incumbent Iliana Iotova has won Bulgaria's presidential runoff by a clear margin, according to official results published Monday, making her the country's first elected woman president.
The former socialist EU lawmaker took first place with 57.5% of the vote, according to the figures. Challenger Andrey Gyurov, the candidate of the pro-Western liberal-conservative opposition camp, came second with 39.4%.
Iotova was backed by the center-left party Progressive Bulgaria, which governs alone. It remains to be seen whether she will be an effective check on the government of Prime Minister Rumen Radev.
The former journalist has held the presidency since January 2026, but has not yet been elected to it personally. When she was vice president, she temporarily took over the post after President Radev resigned to run in an early parliamentary election.
The war in Ukraine, close to Bulgaria's border, gave the election a foreign policy dimension. In recent weeks, drone attacks on merchant ships had increased in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea and in that of neighboring Romania. The pro-Western opposition urged the center-left government in Sofia to take a firmer line.
Iotova repeatedly campaigned for a peace settlement for Ukraine through negotiations with Russia. She said that she wanted to be a "president of peace" for Bulgaria. The newly elected president is due to take office on Jan. 22.
The 62-year-old Iotova will be Bulgaria's seventh head of state since the 1989 political changes. She is also the first woman to be directly elected by the people, which was seen in the Balkan country as a sign of emancipation. Iotova is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
