{"id":1068952,"date":"2026-10-08T17:33:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T14:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/?p=1068952"},"modified":"2026-10-08T17:33:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T14:33:31","slug":"presidential-election-in-bulgaria-to-be-decided-in-a-runoff-alpha-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/newsflash\/presidential-election-in-bulgaria-to-be-decided-in-a-runoff-alpha-research-id1068952.html","title":{"rendered":"Presidential election in Bulgaria to be decided in a runoff: Alpha Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The presidential ticket of incumbent head of state Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev has the support of 44.5% of those who have definitely decided to vote on 25 October, according to a poll by Alpha Research. The candidates Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev is in second place with 26.1%, while Kostadin Kostadinov and Petar Volgin are third with 10.5%.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to bTV, sociologist Boryana Dimitrova stressed that the figures reflect the preferences of those who were firmly decided to vote at the start of the campaign, and that changes remain possible before election day.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are talking, first, about a certain runoff and, second, with a very high degree of probability, a runoff between the two leading presidential tickets,\u201d Dimitrova said. She qualified her statement, however, by noting that shifts in the standings cannot be ruled out before the end of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to her, 30% of those firmly decided to vote could still change their choice. She also pointed out that nearly 40% of those who say they will not vote are motivated by disappointment with politicians, while around 24% believe there is no politician who represents them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The poll also shows strong public demand for a live televised debate between the main candidates, with 62.6% saying such a debate should be held before the first round. According to Dimitrova, society needs clearly stated positions and greater clarity about the candidates\u2019 visions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Alpha Research survey was conducted from 24 September to 1 October using the agency\u2019s own funds and among 1,000 Bulgarian adults, BGNES and Radio Bulgaria report. (author: Ivo Ivanov)<\/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\/537362\/presidential-election-in-bulgaria-to-be-decided-in-a-runoff-alpha-research\"><strong>https:\/\/bnrnews.bg\/en\/post\/537362\/presidential-election-in-bulgaria-to-be-decided-in-a-runoff-alpha-research<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The presidential ticket of incumbent head of state Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev has the support of 44.5% of those who have definitely decided to vote on 25 October, according to a poll by Alpha Research. The candidates Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev is in second place with 26.1%, while Kostadin Kostadinov and Petar Volgin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":1068954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,37738],"tags":[29174,29195,32096,35185],"coauthors":[116693],"class_list":["post-1068952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","category-today-in-the-news","tag-bulgaria","tag-poll","tag-presidential-elections","tag-runoff"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Presidential election in Bulgaria to be decided in a runoff: Alpha Research - 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\/newsflash\/presidential-election-in-bulgaria-to-be-decided-in-a-runoff-alpha-research-id1068952.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presidential election in Bulgaria to be decided in a runoff: Alpha Research - Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The presidential ticket of incumbent head of state Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev has the support of 44.5% of those who have definitely decided to vote on 25 October, according to a poll by Alpha Research. 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