Day of reflection: Bulgaria elects its head of state in Sunday's runoff
Campaigning and the publication of opinion polls are banned until the end of election day. On Nov. 1, Yotova and Gyurov face each other in the second round.
Archive image · Photo: OSCE Parliamentary Assembly from Copenhagen, Denmark / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Saturday, Oct. 31, is the day of reflection before the second round of the presidential and vice-presidential election. The campaign ended at the stroke of midnight, news agency BTA reported. Under the Electoral Code, campaigning is banned in the last 24 hours before election day and on election day itself, and polling agencies may not publish survey results in any form until voting has ended nationwide. Today the polling-station commissions receive the voting machines, ballots and other election materials.
On Sunday, Nov. 1, voters will choose between the tickets of Iliana Yotova and Valchev and of Andrey Gyurov and Kandev. In the first round, Yotova and Valchev won 34.76% and Gyurov and Kandev 31.95% with 99.94% of protocols processed. Turnout then was 1,525,034 people, or about 23% of voters, according to the Central Election Commission.
Polling stations will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. If voters are still queuing outside a station at 8:00 p.m., voting continues until 9:00 p.m. Machine voting will be available in 9,373 polling stations, more than 2,200 of which will have two devices, broadcaster BNT reported. The commission is sending 280 additional machines to polling stations abroad.