Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Local elections in Bulgaria come to an end 

Photo: BGNES

On 5 November, the run-off elections for mayors in 91 municipalities, 451 town halls and 31 districts (in Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna) officially ended. 
According to preliminary data from the exit poll of Gallup International Balkan, BNR's partner in the local elections, by 8 p.m. the winner in Sofia is Vasil Terziev (PP-DB, Save Sofia) with 51.4 per cent, followed by Vanya Grigorova (supported by BSP for Bulgaria, the Left Party and others) with 44.3 per cent. 
Of those who voted for GERB/SDS in the first round in Sofia, 33% voted for Vasil Terziev in the run-off and 53% for Vanya Grigorova, according to Gallup exit poll data.
In Plovdiv, GERB won the election with its candidate Kostadin Dimitrov, who received 52.8 per cent of the vote.
The results in Varna and Blagoevgrad are tight - in Varna, PP-DB's Blagomir Kotsev gets 49.4% against 45.3% for GERB's Ivan Portnih, mayor of Varna since 2013 and running for a fourth term, and in Blagoevgrad, Metodi Baikushev (PP-DB) leads with 49.5% ahead of Ilko Stoyanov (independent), who got 48.1% of the vote.

There were 301 reports of electoral law violations received by the Ministry of Interior by 6 p.m. on polling day, and more than 2,600 since the start of the campaign. There were also problems with some of the voting machines, such as printing only one ballot paper when two votes were marked (for example, for mayor of a municipality and mayor of a district), or printing two ballot papers when two votes were marked and one was blank.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Bulgaria's Constitutional Court declares the election of 16 MPs illegal, Velichie party above 4% threshold

Bulgaria's Constitutional Court has declared the election of 16 MPs in the current Bulgarian Parliament illegal . The decision was published on the institution's website. The Constitutional Court's decision makes it clear that after the..

published on 3/13/25 4:35 PM
Iliyan Cholev, professor in religion in Razgrad

62% of parents are against a mandatory subject "Religion" in schools, shows poll

62% of parents are categorically against the introduction of a mandatory subject "Religion and Orthodox Christianity", and only 10% consider the lack of religious education to be a significant problem. This is shown by a survey by the Parents..

published on 3/13/25 3:16 PM

President Radev: Only the Bulgarian Parliament can decide whether to hold a referendum on the euro

Bulgaria has made a commitment to join the common European currency since the signing of the EU Accession Treaty. This was reminded by President Rumen Radev to students from Plovdiv University "Paisiy Hilendarski". The head of state's words were in..

published on 3/13/25 2:58 PM