Iliyana Yotova wins the presidential runoff according to the first exit polls of the sociological agencies. The forecasts show a lead for the pair Iliana Yotova – Kiril Valchev over Andrey Gyurov – Georgi Kandev, but the result has not yet been officially confirmed by the Central Election Commission.
According to “Alpha Research“ Yotova and Valchev receive 52.5% of the votes, and Gyurov and Kandev - 43.4%. The agency's data also shows that 4.1% of voters marked "I do not support anyone", and the turnout reached 29.1%.
The exit poll by "Measure" gives 51.1% for Yotova and Valchev against 44.6% for Gyurov and Kandev. The share of those who voted "I do not support anyone" according to this forecast is 4.3%, and the turnout - 25.5%.
"Market LINKS" also reports a victory for Yotova, but with a smaller lead - 50.7% against 44% for Gyurov. The agency reports 26.4% turnout as of 7:00 p.m. The differences between the forecasts are in the amount of support, but all three published exit polls put Yotova in first place.
The difference from the first round
In the first round on October 25, Yotova and Valchev collected 34.76% and 528,951 votes. Gyurov and Kandev came in second with 31.95% and 486,232 votes. The difference between the two pairs at that time was 42,719 votes.
The runoff came after none of the presidential candidate pairs received the necessary support to win in the first round. Then 1,525,034 people voted, and the CEC reported a voter turnout of 22.98%.
Victory still needs to be confirmed
In the headquarters of Yotova and Valchev, the first predictions were met with caution. The candidate for vice president Kiril Valchev said: “I am sure that Bulgaria will have its first female president.“
The first exit polls show a victory for Yotova, but do not represent an official election result. The CEC must publish the preliminary data from the processed protocols, and then announce the final results with a decision.
Sources: bntnews.bg, btvnovinite.bg