The presidential candidate pair Iliyana Yotova-Kiril Valchev leads with 43.2% support at the end of the election campaign, according to a survey by “Gallup International Balkan“. Second are Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev with 29.7%, and third – Kostadin Kostadinov and Petar Volgin with 12.4%.
The difference between the first two pairs is 13.5 percentage points. “The distance between the leading presidential candidate pairs is narrowing, but remains significant“, points out “Gallup International Balkan“.
The remaining candidates
In fourth place are Ivan Hristanov and Stoyanka Cherkezova with 3.4%. Radostin Vassilev and Krasimir Manov receive 2.5%, followed by Ivaylo Simeonov and Kosyo Stoychev with 1.9%.
Nikolay Nenchev and Tsveta Kirilova are with 1.6%, and Ivelin Mihaylov and Juliana Mateeva – with 1.3% of the voter support.
Turnout forecast
The declared voter turnout is around 2.6 million voters, or approximately 39% of those eligible to vote.
The survey shows a predominantly negative attitude towards the election campaign. The largest share of respondents - 41.1% - choose the neutral position “Neither“ when assessing whether the campaign is interesting or boring. Another 38.7% directly define it as boring and uninteresting.
According to the data, 79.8% of people do not find a positive impulse in the campaign. Only 16.6% assess it as “interesting and dynamic“. The share of respondents without an opinion is 3.6%.
How the survey was conducted
The survey was conducted between October 14 and 22, 2026 among 1,001 adult citizens of Bulgaria. The interviews were direct, standardized and conducted with tablets using the “face-to-face“ method.
A quota sample was used, adjusted for age, gender, education and type of settlement. The survey is nationally representative of the adult population of the country. The maximum statistical error is ±3.1% at a 50% share and 95% guarantee probability. The survey was financed with the own funds of “Gallup International Balkan“.
Sources: nova.bg