Fate of Bulgaria's presidential election goes to second round

Iliana Iotova secured the most votes in the first round of Bulgaria's presidential election, but because she failed to achieve the threshold required to win outright, the vote will head to a runoff.

Operativ Media reports, citing exit polls conducted by the Alpha Research and Myara polling agencies broadcast on Bulgarian National Television, that Iotova won 35.3 percent of the vote.

Andrey Gyurov, a former caretaker prime minister backed by the opposition, received approximately 32 percent of the vote. Both candidates will now face each other in the second round on November 1.

Kostadin Kostadinov, the candidate of the Revival party, came in third with approximately 13 percent of the vote.

One of the election's most notable aspects was a record-low voter turnout. According to the polls, only about 22.3 percent of eligible citizens participated in the vote.

This sets an all-time turnout low for Bulgarian presidential elections. The previous record low was recorded in May 2007, when 28.6 percent of voters took part.