The race for the 2026 presidential election officially welcomes new participants after another independent presidential candidate pair became clear. The Central Election Commission (CEC) registered an initiative committee nominating the candidacy of the famous physics professor Lachezar Avramov for president, and his runner-up and candidate for vice president will be the infamous businessman Ivaylo Drazhev. The committee behind them is officially represented by Mariana Yaneva, the Bulgarian National Radio (bnr.bg) reported.
An interesting detail about the registration attracted media attention in the late hours. In the initially published decision of the CEC, the names of the candidates and the committee members were written only with initials, which caused a wave of questions in political circles, the newspaper “Sega“ (segabg.com) reported. During the meeting itself, however, the rapporteur Georgi Bakhanov officially announced the names of Avramov and Drazhev.
This is not the scientist's first attempt to enter the building at Dondukov 2. In the vote five years ago, Prof. Lachezar Avramov was a candidate for vice president in a team with Alexander Tomov, nominated at that time by the political formation “Bulgarian Social Democracy – Euroleft“. Interestingly, in the upcoming elections in October 2026, Alexander Tomov is also registered as a candidate for head of state, which means that the former comrades will face each other this time, notes the Bulgarian National Television (bntnews.bg).
With the inclusion of Avramov and Drazhev, the total number of contenders for the presidential post now reaches eight. Among their main competitors are the current president Iliyana Yotova, who earlier that day announced that her candidate for vice president would be the general director of BTA, Kiril Valchev (btvnovinite.bg). Also participating in the campaign are former caretaker prime minister Andrey Gyurov with Georgi Kandev, former minister Ivan Hristanov, MECH leader Radostin Vassilev, Nikolay Nenchev from the Bulgarian National Union of Students, Georgi Dimov and Alexander Tomov. The battle for the voters' votes is expected to be extremely contested.