Iliana Yotova and Kiril Valchev lead the race for Bulgaria's presidency with 41.4% support, according to the first national poll before the 25 October vote. Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev come second on 21.9%, pollster Dobromir Zhivkov of Market LINKS said.
The gap between the top two pairs stands at 19.5 percentage points. Revival party candidates Kostadin Kostadinov and Petar Volgin come third with 6.4%.
Ivelin Mihaylov polls at 3.9%, Radostin Vasilev at 1.6%, Ivan Hristanov at 0.9%. All the other candidates together get 3.7%.
Market LINKS interviewed 1,006 adults between 26 and 29 September, both face to face and online. The poll came out five days after the campaign officially began. The pollster said the numbers show how people felt at that moment, not what the result will be.
A record 27 tickets are running for president this year. Zhivkov said voters' support is not as scattered as that number suggests: "This record number of presidential tickets registered for this vote doesn't actually show voters splitting off in many different directions."
The Central Election Commission registered Kostadinov and Volgin on 22 September, the deadline for applications. Volgin, a member of the European Parliament, is running for vice-president. So many candidates have now made the commission's public register that this is one of the most crowded presidential races Bulgaria has seen.
Sitting vice-president Yotova and running mate Valchev were put forward by a support committee that includes university lecturers, cultural figures, athletes, and current and former politicians. Among the committee members named in the commission's decision are Georgi Parvanov, Sergei Stanishev, Krasimir Karakachanov, Vezhdi Rashidov, Yordan Yovchev and Hristo Pimpirev.
Gyurov and Kandev also have a support committee behind them and announced their run in September. Gyurov, once a well-known figure in the PP-DB party who has worked at the Bulgarian National Bank, had been tipped as a possible candidate for months before he registered.
GERB is not fielding a presidential ticket this time.
The campaign ends on 23 October.