Bulgaria To Elect New President In Runoff

Bulgaria’s head of state would be decided in a runoff on Sunday, according to the country’s election commission.

According to the final results of the first round on Nov. 14, Bulgaria’s incumbent President, Rumen Radev, received 49.42 per cent of the votes and would head to a runoff with Anastas Gerdjikov, who received 22.83 per cent.

The country’s Central Election Commission said on its website on Wednesday.

Radev and Gerdjikov were the top two candidates among 23 contenders.

The total number of eligible voters was 6,691,150 but only 2,687,307 cast their ballots, the commission said.

No president was elected because fewer than half the number of eligible voters cast a ballot, and none of the candidates received more than half the actual votes cast, the commission said.

The runoff winner was the candidate who secured the most votes, with no regard to voter turnout, according to the Bulgarian Constitution.

In the first round, 58-year-old Radev was backed by several political formations such as Continue the Change, Bulgarian Socialist Party and There Is Such A People, while his opponent was supported by Bulgaria’s Centre-right GERB party.

The president of Bulgaria was the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces and has prerogatives such as appointing a caretaker government and dissolving parliament.

The president was elected directly by the people for a period of five years.

Radev’s term would expire at the end of January 2022.