Iliana Iotova and Kiril Valchev lead a new poll for the presidential race, with 43.4% of likely voters saying they would back them if the election were held in mid-October. The survey was done by the Myara agency for Bulgarian National Radio.
Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev are second with 28.9%. Kostadin Kostadinov and Petar Volgin follow with 10.2%. Ivelin Mihaylov and Yuliana Mateeva have 3.1%, Radostin Vasilev and Krasimir Manov 2.9%, and Ivan Hristanov and Stoyanka Cherkezova 1.9%.
Georgi Dimov, Ivaylo Simeonov, Rosen Milenov, Volen Siderov, Rumyana Chenalova and Ivanka Tsvetanova-Petkova each have about 1% in declared support. Another 2.5% said they back no one. Measured against the whole sample rather than just those who plan to vote, one percentage point equals nearly 53,000 people.
Pollsters say it is too early to tell whether these names will win real support. They say the figures show opinion in mid-October, and hundreds of thousands of adult Bulgarians have yet to decide who to vote for.
Turnout is expected to be 39.4%, probably a little higher than in earlier polls.
The poll is nationally representative. Interviewers spoke to 1,009 adult Bulgarians face to face, using tablets, between 8 and 19 October 2026. The maximum margin of error is ±3.1 points at 50% shares.
More than three quarters of adults say the personality of the president matters a great deal. The vice president's figure matters to 57.4%, but answers on that were less clear-cut. And 67.8% back widening the powers of the presidency.
Myara said this answer probably reflects some automatic response, but it shows the instincts of the masses.