Wahlen in Bulgarien: Stichwahl entscheidet über Staatsoberhaupt
Dass Bulgariens Präsidentin Ilijana Jotowa im ersten Wahlgang Platz eins erreicht, ist keine Überraschung. Unerwartet ist, dass ihr Vorsprung relativ knapp ausfiel. Eine Stichwahl soll kommenden Sonntag stattfinden.
In the EU and NATO member state of Bulgaria, the new head of state will be determined in a run-off election. According to a calculation by the Bulgarian public opinion research institute Mjara, neither of the candidates managed to secure an absolute majority in the first round. Additionally, voter turnout was a mere 22.2 percent, significantly below the necessary threshold of over 50 percent.
Consequently, a run-off election is scheduled for next Sunday between the top two contenders: incumbent President Ilijana Jotowa and former interim government chief Andrej Gjurow. President Jotowa reportedly secured 35 percent of the votes, while challenger Andrej Gjurow, a pro-Western economist, placed second with 31.9 percent of the votes, despite expectations of a much larger gap based on pre-election surveys.
It remains uncertain whether and how many additional votes Gjurow can rally for the run-off. As the 50-year-old candidate is backed by the reform-minded liberal-conservative opposition faction, the outcome of the run-off between the two leading candidates remains uncertain, including the allocation of votes from the defeated candidates in the subsequent election.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
