Bulgarian presidential runoff draws cross-border voters from Turkey

Bulgaria held the first round of its presidential election on October 25, with 27 candidates on the ballot. No candidate won more than half of the valid votes, forcing a second round between two pairs: President candidate Iliyana Yotova and Vice President candidate Kiril Valchev, and President candidate Andrey Gyurov and Vice President candidate Georgi Kandev.

For the runoff, 78 polling stations were opened in 18 Turkish provinces. In the Thrace region, 15 stations in Edirne, Kırklareli and Tekirdağ began voting at 07:00. Voters presented their identification and cast ballots using electronic voting machines.

“We want the voice of our fellow citizens and our compatriots to be heard from the ballot box.”

Turnout among dual citizens and ethnic Turks in Turkey remained low. According to Güner Çetin, head of the Çorlu Bulgarian Turks Culture and Solidarity Association, 8,078 votes were cast across Turkey in the first round. He said participation was weak because no candidate represented the Turkish community among the 27 contenders.

Çetin provided further turnout figures for the first round: 1,200 people voted at five stations in Çorlu, 2,000 in Tekirdağ, and 8,000 across Turkey. He said this meant two out of four votes were cast in Tekirdağ.

An AA interviewee identified as Ar said turnout was below 50 percent and described the figure as unprecedentedly low for Bulgarian presidential elections. He cited bureaucratic obstacles, the detention of some Turkish mayors in Bulgaria before the election, and the requirement to fill out forms in Cyrillic script at polling stations as reasons for low interest.

Ar noted that the number of polling stations outside the European Union had been limited to 20 for the general elections in April, but rose to 78 for this vote. He said 33,000 votes were cast at 20 stations in April, while only 7,600 votes were cast at 78 stations across Turkey in this election.

Ar said the gap between the two leading pairs in the first round was about 42,500 votes. He added that this gap could be closed easily and that turnout in Turkey could rise two or three times in the second round, making dual citizens and voters in Turkish and Muslim regions of Bulgaria decisive for the outcome.