Bulgarian President Iliana Jotova Leads Pre‑Election Poll

Incumbent President Iliana Jotova is in the strongest position ahead of Bulgaria's autumn presidential elections, with roughly half of the respondents in a recent Global Metric poll indicating they would probably or definitely support her. The survey, carried out between 23 June and 11 July, was conducted before Jotova officially announced her candidacy.

Jotova leads a field that includes Andrej Gurov (23 % support), Daniel Valčev (18 %) and Ivan Hristov (12 %). When party affiliation is considered, the candidate of Progressive Bulgaria enjoys the highest backing – close to 40 % – followed by the "Continuing Changes" and Democratic Bulgaria list (13.3 %) and the GERB‑UDF coalition (11.5 %). Jotova also benefits from broad cross‑party appeal: 84 % of supporters of the BSP‑United Left coalition and 78 % of Progressive Bulgaria’s base say they would back her, while 37 % of respondents unaffiliated with any party express readiness to support her. Analysts note that the ability to attract votes beyond a candidate’s core party base could be decisive in a potential second round.