{
  "id": 17772170,
  "title": "Bulgaria’s Iotova wins presidential runoff, near-final results show",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/bulgarias-iotova-wins-presidential-runoff-near-final-results-show-17772170",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-11-02T09:12:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Daily Maverick",
    "slug": "daily-maverick",
    "url": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-11-02-bulgarias-iotova-wins-presidential-runoff-near-final-results-show/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Bulgaria's acting President Iliana Iotova emerged victorious in the presidential runoff election, according to near-final results released by the Central Election Commission on Monday. Iotova's triumph marked her as the country's first elected female head of state, despite a voter turnout that was notably low. The final tally, after processing 99.95% of precinct protocols, saw Iotova and her running mate Valchev secure 57.58% of the vote, amounting to approximately 1.1 million ballots. Their opponents Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev garnered 39.47% of the vote, or around 749,500 votes. An additional 2.95% of voters opted for the \"I support no one\" option.\n\nThe runoff election was necessitated by a first round on October 25 in which no candidate managed to achieve a majority, thus requiring a second round. Iotova and Valchev had come out on top in this initial round with 34.6% of the vote, ahead of Gyurov and Kandev, who received 32% each. Their advance to the second round came as Iotova had served as vice president prior to stepping in as acting president in January. This position was a result of Radev's resignation to contest the parliamentary race, which he won on a ticket perceived by many analysts as having Kremlin-friendly tendencies.\n\nBoth Iotova and Valchev have publicly expressed their support for Radev, and together they have advocated for a diplomatic resolution to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.",
  "summary": "Bulgaria's acting President Iliana Iotova won the presidential runoff election, near-final results from the Central Election Commission showed on Monday, becoming the country's first elected female head of state amid low voter turnout.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Business Recorder",
        "title": "Bulgaria's Iotova wins presidential runoff, near-final results show",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/bulgarias-iotova-wins-presidential-runoff-near-final-results-show",
        "published": "2026-11-02T06:59:58.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Kyiv Independent",
        "title": "Russia-friendly Yotova wins Bulgaria's presidential runoff",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/russia-friendly-yotova-wins-bulgarias-presidential-runoff",
        "published": "2026-11-02T07:50:59.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}