At Stake in this Election:  

• The Presidency of Bulgaria.   

Government Structure:  

• Chief of State: Illiana IOTOVA (since 23 January 2026)  

• Head of Government: Rumen RADEV (since 08 May 2026) 

• Assembly: unicameral, 240-seat National Assembly  

Electoral System:  

• The President is directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in up to two rounds. The president may serve up to two 5-year terms.  

• The Prime Minister is elected by the National Assembly.  

• Members of the National Assembly are directly elected by proportional representation vote in multi-seat constituencies. Parties and coalitions must earn at least 4% of the overall vote to receive a seat. Members serve 4-year terms. 

Last Election:  

The last presidential election was held on November 14, 2021, and a second-round run-off was subsequently held on November 21, 2021, after no candidates received 50% or more of the vote. Rumen Radev won 66.72% of the vote in the second round to win the presidency. 

The first round of this 2026 Presidential election was held on October 25, 2026. No candidate secured more than 50% of the voting, leading to this run off between acting President Iliana Iotova (who received 34.76% of first round votes) and Andrey Gyurov (who received 31.95% of first round votes). 

Information for Voters: 

The Central Election Commission is posting regular updates to its Facebook page (in Bulgarian) 

Key Deadlines*  

• Registration of parties and coalitions deadline for round 1: September 9, 2026* 

• Candidate filing deadline for round 1: September 22, 2026* 

• Voter registration deadline: n/a; voter registration is passive ** 

*Deadlines are available in the Central Election Commission's ' Хронограма' or ‘Chronogram,’ available for download in word format. 

**See the Bulgarian Electoral Code, available on the Central Election Commission website for download in word format. 

Main Candidates in this Election: 

• Candidate Name: Andrey Atanasov Gyurov * 

• Candidate Name: Illiana Iotova (incumbent) * 

*Candidate nominations emerged from initiative committees 

Country Context: 

• Population:  (2025 est.) 

• Registered Voters: 6,627,747 (2024) 

• V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index Score: 0.6 (2025) 

• V-Dem Regimes of the World Classification: Electoral Democracy (2025) 

• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 0.845, Very high, Rank 55 (2023)  

Gender Data: 

• Female Population: 3,320,474 (2025 est.) 

• CEDAW Status: Signed 17 July 1980, Ratified 8 February 1982 

• Gender Quota: n/a 

• Female Candidates in this election: Yes 

• Number of Female Legislators (pre-election): 57 out of 250 (23.8%) 

• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: 18.9 (2023) 

Disability Data: 

• CRPD Status: Signed 27 September 2007, Ratified 22 March 2012 

• Projected population with a disability: 1,029,329 (2025 est.) 

IFES Resources: 

• ElectionJudgments: Yes, 1 judgment