Bulgaria runoff: Nationalist leader says “not one” of his voters will back Gyurov

Five days before Bulgaria's presidential runoff, the leader of the nationalist Revival (Vazrazhdane) party, Kostadin Kostadinov, came out firmly against Andrey Gyurov. “Not one of our voters will give their vote to Gyurov,” he told reporters on Tuesday morning, according to bTV, BGNES and Fakti. “We categorically do not support him and we oppose him,” he said, citing principled and ideological reasons. Kostadinov finished third in Sunday's first round with about 12.5 percent, and his supporters are widely seen as a potential swing factor in the second round.

Kostadinov did not, however, endorse front-runner Iliana Yotova. He said Revival's voters were split three ways: some would stay home, some would tick “I support no one”, and others would vote for Yotova, which he called their free choice. According to BGNES, he described Prime Minister Rumen Radev's claim that Sunday's vote is a choice between peace and war as an insult to citizens' intelligence. He declined to predict the outcome, saying the two sides were practically even.

Kostadinov also leveled accusations at GERB and DPS. By his own estimate, Gyurov received between 70,000 and 120,000 first-round votes from GERB circles and, to a lesser extent – 15,000 to 20,000 – from DPS, which he described as a “controlled vote”. He offered no evidence, presenting the figures as the party's own analysis. According to the Central Election Commission, Yotova won 34.76 percent in the first round and Gyurov 31.95 percent. The commission must formally announce the official result on Tuesday and set the runoff for November 1.