Presidential elections in Bulgaria, polls open for the run-off between Yotova and Ghiurov

In the first round the outgoing president - supported by Prime Minister Rumen Radev, in favor of dialogue with Moscow - finished in the lead with 34.75% of the votes. The challenger Ghiurov - supported by liberal pro-Europeans - stopped at 31.95%. Last Sunday the voter turnout was 22.98%, a negative record without any precedent in the country

Polls open in Bulgaria, where voting for the presidential elections will take place from 7am local time (6am Italian time) to 8pm (7pm Italian time). The contestants are the outgoing president Ylenia Yotova and the pro-European liberal Andrey Ghiurov. In the first round the voter turnout was 22.98%, a negative record without any precedent in the country.

Who are the candidates

Outgoing president Ylenia Yotova is supported by the Progressive Bulgaria party of anti-corruption populist prime minister Rumen Radev - in favor of dialogue with Moscow - and by the socialists. In the first round last Sunday, Yotova finished in the lead with 34.75% of the votes. The challenger is Andrey Ghiurov, supported by the liberal pro-Europeans of Democratic Bulgaria allied with the Let's Continue Change (PP) party, which stopped at 31.95% in the first round.

Very uncertain outcome

In this week between the first and second rounds, no polling agency has ventured to predict the outcome of the run-off, the result of which remains uncertain also in light of the 3% gap between the two candidates. Furthermore, Boyko Borissov, leader of the GERB party which remained in power for over ten years, asked his sympathizers to vote for Ghiurov to save the country from a turn towards Moscow. And according to rumours, DPS, the party of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria, has also agreed on the support of its voters for Ghiurov. While no one has come forward proposing agreements in favor of Yotova.

The scenario

The vote takes place in a climate of social and economic insecurity. After Bulgaria's entry into the Eurozone on January 1st, and due to the turbulence in the energy sector, the country is afflicted by sharp increases in food prices, services and electricity, water and heating tariffs. And in the last week, the element of tension of ships sunk by drones in the Black Sea, near Bulgarian territorial waters, has been added.