Andrey Gyurov Loses Bulgaria Presidential Runoff to Iliana Yotova

Gyurov Lost by 18 Points After a Campaign That Never Reached Beyond the Urban Base

Iliana Yotova defeated Andrey Gyurov in Bulgaria’s presidential runoff on November 1, taking 57.57% of the vote to Gyurov’s 39.48%, with turnout at a record-low 28.6% for a runoff, according to results reported by boulevardbulgaria.bg. The margin stunned Gyurov’s camp: on election night he told reporters, “We didn’t expect such a difference,” BNT News reported. The gap had been under 3 percentage points after the first round.

The scale of the defeat is clearer when the two rounds are set side by side. Gyurov and running mate Georgi Kandev drew nearly 486,000 voters in the first round and roughly 745,000 in the runoff, BNT News reported. Yet Yotova’s lead, which pre-election polls had shown as commanding, narrowed to less than 3 points on the first round before widening to 18 points in the runoff, the Sega analysis noted.

Four Months of Hesitation Before a Two-Month Campaign

Sega reported that Gyurov had a realistic chance at the presidency but lost it to a string of errors by himself and his supporters. When asked at the end of April whether he would run, Gyurov said the decision required “time and calm,” and he spent four months deliberating. He and Kandev officially entered the race on September 1, less than two months before the vote.

The campaign Gyurov then ran generated “mostly a mix of bewilderment and derision,” Sega reported — videos of the candidate chopping wood and fishing, with little said about what he would do as head of state. Meanwhile, he insisted he was a “candidate of the citizens” and did not need parties, leaving him backed only by We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria, Sega reported.

What Turnout and the Diaspora Vote Showed

Most eligible voters stayed home, Sega reported. The low turnout was decisive: Yotova’s first-round lead, which polls had shown as large, shrank to under 3 points partly because so few of Gyurov’s potential voters came out.

One clear exception was the vote abroad. In the Netherlands, Gyurov and Kandev won 72.088% of the vote — 4,308 ballots — against 25.770% for Yotova and Kiril Valchev, with 100% of protocols processed, BTA reported, citing the Central Election Commission. That was up from 66.823% for Gyurov in the first round in the same country.

Borisov’s Personal Support Shifts Campaign Focus

In the final week before the runoff, Gyurov’s circle turned to GERB supporters: a declaration of support for Gyurov was signed by former presidents, prime ministers and ministers, including Boyko Borisov — though Borisov signed as “citizen Borisov supporting citizen Gyurov,” not as GERB leader, Sega reported. Sociologists cited by Sega estimated GERB and DPS gave Gyurov around 200,000 votes. The debate between the two candidates, which Gyurov had pressed for, did not help him, Sega reported.

What Gyurov and His Allies Said Afterward

Gyurov thanked his voters, congratulated Yotova and denied having held talks with party leaders for support, BNT News reported. Asked whether Borisov’s endorsement had helped or hurt, he said, “We are yet to see how the various votes in the campaign affected the final result.” He declined to say whether he would continue in politics or return to academia, but said the campaign had built “a good platform on which to build,” and called for unity, BNT News reported. Kandev told supporters, “The fight does not end with these elections.”

Asen Vasiliev of We Continue the Change, who did not appear at the candidates’ briefing, said his party had around 400,000 votes — double what Gyurov collected in the spring — and that the campaign lacked “sufficiently large mobilization,” BNT News reported. Alexadrina Pendachanska, co-chair of the candidates’ initiative committee, said many people did not vote, which she called “a verdict on Radev’s government,” BNT News reported. NOVA reported that Pendachanska remained positive on election night, saying it was still too early for final conclusions and that the team expected support from voters abroad.

The Question Gyurov Left Open

Gyurov’s post-election message on social media framed the result as a warning rather than a concession: “When all institutions are in one pair of hands, civic conscience and activism is the last barrier before absolute power,” boulevardbulgaria.bg reported. He did not answer whether he has ambitions to create a new political project, BNT News reported — and that unanswered question, whether Gyurov will build on the platform his campaign created or step back into academia, is what remains open after the runoff.

More on this story: Ilijana Jotova Wins Bulgaria's Presidential Runoff