Kiril Valchev is running for vice president in the October 25 election. An initiative committee is putting him forward alongside presidential candidate Iliana Yotova, the BTA news agency reports.
Valchev was born on May 24, 1973, in Sofia. He studied at the National High School for Ancient Languages and Cultures "Konstantin-Kiril Filosof" before earning a law degree from Sofia University's law faculty. In 1995 he took a professional radio management course with the media in Cologne, and in 2000 he won a fellowship in the German Marshall Fund's program for young European leaders in the United States. In 2003 he did an internship with the Bulgarian section of the media in London.
For years Valchev hosted the weekly current-affairs shows "Sedmitsata" ("The Week", since 1994) and "Godinata" ("The Year", since 1996) on radio. He has visited all 193 UN member states and been on every continent.
From 2000 to 2004 he worked as a part-time assistant lecturer in civil law at Sofia University's law faculty. Since 2005 he has been a managing partner at a law firm specializing in media law and intellectual property, advising media outlets, theaters, opera houses, philharmonic orchestras, museums, galleries and individual artists. He also became secretary of the firm's governing board. He went on to serve as permanent legal adviser during the creation and work of the Union of Bulgarian National Electronic Media, an association of BTA, Bulgarian National Television, Bulgarian National Radio, bTV, Nova Television and Darik Radio. In 2019 and 2020 he was part of an expert group working on changes to the Radio and Television Act for parliament's culture and media committee. He has received several honors and awards for his work in media.
As an intellectual-property and media-law lawyer, Valchev served for many years as BTA's legal adviser. In 2003, and again in 2011, he helped draft the BTA Act, which parliament passed at the end of 2011. Earlier, between 1993 and 1995, he worked in the agency's foreign news desk. He has also moderated discussions at the World Meetings of Bulgarian Media, organized by BTA and the Association of Bulgarian Media Worldwide.
On January 27, 2021, the 44th National Assembly elected Valchev director general of BTA — with no votes against and no abstentions. On December 4, 2025, the 51st National Assembly unanimously re-elected him for a second five-year term in the post.