The president of Bulgaria, Iliana Iotova, leads the count of the presidential elections held this Sunday with 34.8% of the votes when around 30.71% has been counted, according to the available official data. This percentage leaves her far from the absolute majority and pushes the contest to a second round against the pro-Western candidate Andrei Giurov, who has 31.67% of the votes.
The figures released by the Central Electoral Commission (CIK, for its Bulgarian acronym) place in third position the representative of the nationalist and pro-Russian party Revival (Vazrazhdane), Kostadin Kostadinov, with just over 13.13% support, after an intense campaign at the head of a force integrated into the same political group in the European Parliament as the German far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD, for its German acronym).
The rest of the candidates have fallen behind the option "I do not support anyone," which has concentrated 4.43% of the ballots.
The distance between Iotova —supported by the center-left party in the Government, Bulgaria Progressive (PB)— and Giurov, an economist by profession, has been significantly lower than anticipated by previous polls, which granted the current head of State, in office since the resignation in January of the current Prime Minister, Rumen Radev, more than 40% of the votes, compared to just over 28% for her main opponent.
The final results will be known in approximately 48 hours after the closing of the polling stations. If the trends hold, both will face each other again in a second round set for next November 1.
The uncertainty now is whether Giurov will be able to gather more support in this new encounter with the polls and, if so, to what extent. The candidate, 50 years old, has the backing of the liberal-conservative opposition, favorable to a reform program. It is also not yet known which option the votes obtained by the already discarded candidates will go to in the second round.
Another of the most striking elements of the electoral day has been the very low turnout, which has remained at 22% of the nearly 6.5 million citizens eligible to vote to choose a head of State for the next five years, in elections where 27 candidates competed.
A president with limited powers
Although the Bulgarian president is elected by direct suffrage, his powers are relatively limited. Unlike the French model, the head of state in Bulgaria does not have the authority to dismiss the prime minister, although he serves as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
From Sofia, the president can grant or withdraw Bulgarian citizenship. Likewise, he appoints, at the proposal of the Government, the ambassadors and the representatives of the country to international organizations.
He also has the right of veto, which allows him to return laws approved by Parliament for further deliberation. For this reason, the opposition argues that the head of state and the prime minister should not come from the same political bloc.