Bulgaria's Iotova leads exit polls in presidential runoff

Parallel vote counts following Bulgaria's presidential runoff on Sunday show Iliana Iotova and her running mate Kiril Valchev leading Andrey Gurov and Georgi Kandev, according to preliminary data released by polling agencies and reported by Qazinform News Agency, citing BTA.

Five agencies were registered to conduct exit polls and parallel vote counts: Myara, Gallup International Balkan, Trend, Alpha Research and Market Links. Results reported by 9 p.m. local time showed the Iotova-Valchev ticket ahead in four surveys, including Trend at 58.1% to 38.9% and Myara at 58.2% to 38.6%. Alpha Research gave it 57.4% to 39.6%, and Gallup International Balkan, based on a 75% sample, gave it 56.1% to 39.1%. Market Links, with a 100% sample, showed Gurov-Kandev ahead at 56.5% to 40.6%.

Earlier, in the first round on October 25, the Iotova-Valchev ticket, backed by the ruling Progressive Bulgaria party and the Bulgarian Socialist Party among others, came first with 34.76% of the vote. The Gurov-Kandev ticket, supported by We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria, came second among 27 candidate pairs with 31.95%.