Bulgarian election: muted interest among Bulgarians in Germany
Bulgarians in Germany could vote at 70 polling stations, and broadcaster BNT reported low turnout. A run-off between Yotova and Gyurov follows on 1 November.
Symbolic image · Photo: Achim Raschka (talk); corrected from Ralf Roletschek with ShiftN / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Bulgarians in Germany showed muted interest in Sunday's Bulgarian presidential election, according to state broadcaster BNT. The broadcaster reported low turnout in Germany without giving figures. No significant problems or violations were recorded at Berlin's five polling stations, three of which had two voting machines each. By 11 a.m., 300 people had voted in Berlin, according to Paragraf.bg, including members of the election commissions.
Germany is home to the largest Bulgarian community in Europe: 421,895 Bulgarian citizens were registered there at the end of 2025. Voting took place at 70 polling stations in 49 cities, including four in Munich and three each in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg. In April's parliamentary election, Progressive Bulgaria, the strongest force in Germany, alone received 16,398 votes there, according to the Central Election Commission.
Nationwide, incumbent Iliana Yotova led with almost 35 percent ahead of former prime minister Andrey Gyurov with almost 33 percent, according to projections by Alpha Research. As no one won an absolute majority, a run-off on 1 November will decide. The Central Election Commission plans to announce the official result of the first round on 27 October.