Bulgaria elects first female head of state as acting president Iliana Yotova wins race

Acting President Iliana Yotova won the runoff election to become Bulgaria’s first elected female head of state and said she will work for national consensus by bridging political rifts.With all the votes counted on Monday, the Central Election Commission said Yotova secured 57.6%, while the candidate of the liberal, pro-Western opposition, Andrey Gyurov, received 39.5%.Gyurov conceded defeat, saying that “this is how the Bulgarian citizens have voted,” and added that the results had to be accepted as they stood.“I voted for national consensus through dialogue, for institutions that work for citizens, for a strong state with its own foreign policy in a strong Europe,” Yotova said after the vote.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Yotova and looked forward to continuing cooperation with her on security and defense, competitiveness, and energy independence.“For a strong Bulgaria in a strong Europe,” von der Leyen wrote in a post on X.The vote was the first major test for Prime Minister Rumen Radev’s Moscow-friendly Progressive Bulgaria party, which endorsed Yotova.

In April’s parliamentary vote, the party won 131 of the 240 seats in Parliament, securing an outright majority.Observers note that a victory for Yotova will keep the presidency in the hands of the governing majority.Such a concentration of power could prevent the effective maintenance of checks and balances on policy decisions by institutions, they say.Both Yotova and Radev have called for a diplomatic solution to end the war in Ukraine but remain evasive about possible Russian involvement in drone attacks in the Black Sea region.Yotova has opposed further Bulgarian military assistance to Ukraine, repeatedly arguing that the conflict has no military solution and calling for a “coalition for peace” focused on diplomacy.Yotova, 62, took over the presidency in January, when Radev stepped down to run for parliament, and was seeking her own elected mandate.

She...