Iliana Yotova has been elected president of Bulgaria. She won the runoff against Andrey Gyurov with 57.57% of the vote, the Central Election Commission (CIK) said after counting the records from all polling stations.
Earlier today, with just over half of the records counted, Yotova and her vice-presidential running mate Kiril Valchev led with 57.95%, while Gyurov and Georgi Kandev had 39.01%.
Where it began: Yotova and Valchev lead run-off with 57.95% as over half of protocols counted
Yotova is the first woman to be head of state in Bulgaria and the country's seventh president. An initiative committee put her name forward, and Progressive Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) backed her. Until now she had been finishing the term of Rumen Radev, who resigned. She now gets a five-year term of her own. With her ten years as vice president under Radev, she has the longest service in the presidential office.
Almost 1,100,000 people voted for her. In the first round a week earlier she had about 530,000 votes, so her result almost doubled.
Gyurov came second with 39.48% of the vote, or about 750,000 votes. He did better than in the first round, but finished almost 19 percentage points behind Yotova. The gap between the two is about 340,000 ballots.
Parallel counts put turnout at 29.1% according to Alpha Research and 29.8% according to Market Links. Both agencies say turnout was higher than on the previous Sunday. Pollsters say interest in the runoff was greater.
Yotova has more than 70% in five regions: Montana, Vratsa, Dobrich, Yambol and Haskovo. In another 19 regions she has over 60%, and in three, including Sofia's 25th district, over 50%.
Gyurov wins in only three regions: Sofia's 23rd and 24th districts and Kardzhali. He drew more votes in the capital. Yotova's lowest share is in the 23rd district, at 38%, but it is still among the districts with the most votes for her.
In the city of Plovdiv, Gyurov won the first round, but in the runoff Yotova leads by about 7,000 votes.
The final turnout figure will be known in the coming days.