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

No significant change in temperatures to be expected

On Wednesday minimum temperatures will range between 13 and 18° C., for Sofia 15° C. During the day the weather will be predominantly sunny with scattered middle and high clouds. There will be isolated showers in the mountains. There will be a..

published on 9/9/25 6:35 PM

IMF mission to visit Bulgaria in September

An International Monetary Fund mission will visit Bulgaria as part of its annual review of the country’s economy , the Fund said in a statement. The team, led by Fabian Bornhorst, will be in Sofia from 10 to 23 September 2025 for regular..

published on 9/9/25 6:19 PM

A Bulgarian delegation has visited Kyiv at the invitation of President Zelensky

A Bulgarian delegation recently visited Kyiv at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelensky , Ukraine’s ambassador to Sofia Olesya Ilashchuk said on Monday. The group, made up of Solomon Passy, Velizar Shalamanov, Ivan Anchev, Maxim Behar, Todor..

published on 9/9/25 6:03 PM