Before the run-off: Iotova and Gyurov expected to face off on BNT on Thursday
According to media reports, the two candidates will meet live on public broadcaster BNT on Oct. 29 from 9 p.m. Official rules for the debate have not yet been announced.
Symbolic image · Photo: Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Three days before the Nov. 1 run-off, Iliana Iotova and Andrey Gyurov are due to meet in a head-to-head televised debate on public broadcaster BNT. The daily 24 Chasa and the news site Club Z, citing their own sources, reported it is planned for Thursday, Oct. 29, according to 24 Chasa from 9 p.m. Neither BNT nor the two campaign teams had released details by Monday evening. According to 24 Chasa, Dobrina Cheshmedzhieva will moderate, while the rules, including whether the vice-presidential candidates take part, are still being worked out.
Gyurov called for a debate on election night in which both would set out how they intend to use their powers. According to 24 Chasa, Iotova said on election day that she would debate her main rival before the run-off. Vice-presidential candidate Georgi Kandev rejected a separate debate with Kiril Valchev until Valchev answers questions about presidential pardons; according to Club Z, no separate vice-presidential debate is planned.
As a warm-up, representatives of the two initiative committees clashed on BNT 1's "Referendum" on Tuesday evening: Alexandrina Pendachanska, Konstantin Valkov and Radoslav Bimbalov for Gyurov, and Emil Stoimenov, Martin Zahariev and Lyuboslav Kostov for Iotova.