Bulgaria elects first woman president in runoff over Ukraine

Sofia — Bulgarians have elected Iliana Yotova as the country's first woman president, handing the incumbent a decisive runoff victory on Sunday in a contest that turned into a referendum on the war in Ukraine and Sofia's place between Russia and the West.

Yotova won 57.6% of the vote against 39.5% for former caretaker prime minister Andrey Gyurov, according to official results reported by DW. Turnout was less than 30%, after most opposition parties, including the conservative GERB of former prime minister Boyko Borisov, declined to field a candidate.

Prime Minister Rumen Radev, whose Progressive Bulgaria party backed Yotova, had told voters they were choosing "between war and peace". Yotova opposes military aid to Ukraine, favours dialogue with Moscow and campaigned as the self-described "president of peace", promising that no Bulgarian soldier would be sent to Ukraine — although the constitution reserves that decision for parliament. Gyurov, regarded as staunchly pro-European, had signed a security cooperation agreement with Kyiv in March.

Bulgarian coverage reviewed by France 24 focused on the balance of power. The paper Capital wrote that Radev's camp has now consolidated control of the National Assembly, the government and the presidency, leaving the justice system as the only remaining counterbalance. Dnevnik traced Yotova's career from the Socialist Party's press centre through posts as an MEP and nine years as vice president.

The result also laid bare demographic fault lines. Pollster Dimitar Ganev told DW that voters aged 18 to 40 and residents of Sofia favoured Gyurov, while those over 40 and smaller towns backed Yotova "decisively". The campaign was further charged by drone strikes on ships in the Black Sea, which neither Yotova nor Radev attributed to Russia; the European Parliament has urged the EU to consider deploying a naval operation there.

Yotova's victory was built on a wider coalition than her first-round showing of 34.8%, against Gyurov's 31.95%. The pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party's candidate took 12.5% in that round, and Ganev estimates around 70% of its voters swung to Yotova in the runoff. He told DW that over two-thirds of Bulgarians do not question the country's EU and NATO orientation; former defence minister Todor Tagarev countered that Bulgaria would be "in a much worse position" in both under her leadership.

The next test of that claim will come in Brussels and on the Black Sea: whether EU members act on the naval deployment the European Parliament has called for, and how Yotova's presidency positions Bulgaria as the war in Ukraine continues on its doorstep.