Bulgarian voters return to the polls on Sunday, November 1, 2026, to choose between the two presidential tickets that received the most votes in the first round: Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev, and Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev.
When are polling stations open?
Voting in Bulgaria is scheduled from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time (6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in Central European Time). Polling can continue until 9:00 p.m. local time for voters already waiting when normal hours end, under the election rules. Polling stations abroad follow applicable local arrangements.
How is the runoff decided?
The two leading presidential and vice-presidential pairs advance from the October 25 vote. The ticket receiving more valid votes in the second round is elected; the first-round turnout requirement does not apply to the runoff. The October 25 official figures were 528,951 votes for Iotova–Valchev and 486,232 for Gyurov–Kandev. Those figures are historical first-round results, not a partial count for November 1.
Election coverage: Bulgaria Presidential Runoff 2026 — Votendi election hub.
When will results be available?
Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission (CEC) is the primary official source. Preliminary election-night estimates or exit polls, where lawfully published, must be labelled separately from the commission’s counted votes. Official runoff figures may not appear immediately after the polls close.
Votendi will link to the CEC count and publish verified figures with their source and update time. Until the CEC publishes actual runoff data, the results status is Awaiting official results.
Official resources: Central Election Commission; 2026 presidential election results service; CEC machine-readable results from the first round. Background: BNT report on the CEC’s runoff decision.
