{"id":1064816,"date":"2026-09-28T17:07:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/?p=1064816"},"modified":"2026-09-28T17:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:07:38","slug":"sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/today-in-the-news\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election-id1064816.html","title":{"rendered":"Sociologists expect low turnout in Bulgaria\u2019s presidential election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Turnout in Bulgaria\u2019s presidential election on October 25 is expected to be low, with a run-off also likely, sociologists Genoveva Petrova of Alpha Research and Parvan Simeonov of Myara told BNT. They said turnout could even fall to a historic low.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we look at the last two presidential elections, we see turnout falling from 3.9 million to around 2.6 million,\u201d Simeonov said. He added that the perception of a clear frontrunner could discourage some voters from going to the polls, while presidential elections often produce surprises.<\/p>\n<p>Boriana Dimitrova of Alpha Research told BNR that, in her view, there was no sense that this was the kind of contest that could bring about significant change. Commenting on machine voting in polling stations with more than 300 registered voters, she said voters were not intimidated by the machines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would not expect an artificial decline in turnout simply because machines are being used,\u201d Dimitrova said. (author Elizabeth Radkova)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>This content is republished under a bilateral cooperation agreement between the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) and the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Rom\u00e2nia). The original article can be found on the Bulgarian National Radio website at the following link:<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/bnrnews.bg\/en\/post\/533322\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election\"><strong>https:\/\/bnrnews.bg\/en\/post\/533322\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Turnout in Bulgaria\u2019s presidential election on October 25 is expected to be low, with a run-off also likely, sociologists Genoveva Petrova of Alpha Research and Parvan Simeonov of Myara told BNT. They said turnout could even fall to a historic low. \u201cIf we look at the last two presidential elections, we see turnout falling from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":1064805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[],"coauthors":[114936],"class_list":["post-1064816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sociologists expect low turnout in Bulgaria\u2019s presidential election - Radio Romania International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/today-in-the-news\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election-id1064816.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sociologists expect low turnout in Bulgaria\u2019s presidential election - Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Turnout in Bulgaria\u2019s presidential election on October 25 is expected to be low, with a run-off also likely, sociologists Genoveva Petrova of Alpha Research and Parvan Simeonov of Myara told BNT. They said turnout could even fall to a historic low. \u201cIf we look at the last two presidential elections, we see turnout falling from [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/today-in-the-news\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election-id1064816.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-28T14:07:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Vote-photo-Wokandapix-Pixabay.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Radio Rom\u00e2nia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Radio Rom\u00e2nia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/today-in-the-news\\\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election-id1064816.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/today-in-the-news\\\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election-id1064816.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Radio Rom\u00e2nia\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/67a5968ae4048120bd859e71a3615e7f\"},\"headline\":\"Sociologists expect low turnout in Bulgaria\u2019s presidential election\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-28T14:07:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/today-in-the-news\\\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election-id1064816.html\"},\"wordCount\":211,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/today-in-the-news\\\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election-id1064816.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Vote-photo-Wokandapix-Pixabay.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Today in the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/today-in-the-news\\\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election-id1064816.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rri.ro\\\/en\\\/news-and-current-affairs\\\/today-in-the-news\\\/sociologists-expect-low-turnout-in-bulgarias-presidential-election-id1064816.html\",\"name\":\"Sociologists expect low turnout in Bulgaria\u2019s presidential election - 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