Iliyana Yotova is running for president in the October 25 election. An initiative committee has put her forward alongside Kiril Valchev, who is running for vice president.

Yotova was born on October 24, 1964. In November 2016, Bulgarians elected her vice president alongside Rumen Radev as president. On January 19, 2017, the two were sworn in before the 43rd National Assembly, and three days later, on January 22, they took office for a five-year term. In November 2021, Radev and Yotova won a second term as president and vice president, the presidency's website says.

On January 23, 2026, Iliyana Yotova took office as Bulgaria's head of state. This happened after the Constitutional Court cut short President Rumen Radev's term, following his resignation announcement to the nation on January 19.

Yotova is a graduate of the 9th French Language High School "Alphonse de Lamartine" in Sofia and later studied Bulgarian philology at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". She went on to specialize at France's National School of Administration (ENA) and at the Centre for European Studies in Strasbourg.

She began her career as a reporter at Bulgarian National Television, where she worked from 1990 to 1997 — moving up from editor to anchor and finally becoming head of the news and current affairs department. From 1997 to 2007 she ran the press office of the Bulgarian Socialist Party's National Council. She sat on the party's National Council from 2000 to 2016. In January 2006 she was elected deputy chair of the BSP's Sofia city council, a post she held until 2012. That same year she also joined the executive bureau of the BSP's National Council, staying there until 2016.

Between 2005 and 2007, Yotova was an MP in the 40th National Assembly. At the same time she chaired the Bulgarian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie and was deputy head of the parliamentary delegation to PACE.

From June 2007 she became a member of the European Parliament with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. During her first term she sat on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee.

Her second term in the European Parliament ran from 2009 to 2014. She was then deputy chair of the Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering, as well as deputy head of the delegation to the EU-Moldova Parliamentary Association Committee. She also sat on the Fisheries Committee, the Petitions Committee and the delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. As a substitute member she worked on the Employment and Social Affairs Committee and the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee. She was also a substitute member of the delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries. She wrote the European Parliament's first report on the Black Sea and its fisheries.

Her third term in the European Parliament ran from 2014 to 2017. She was elected deputy chair of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee and a substitute member of the Regional Development Committee. She was also a substitute member of the Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee. In addition, she was deputy head of the European Parliament's delegation to the Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, where she worked on EU relations with Montenegro. She was also a member of the European Parliament's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean.

As an MEP, Yotova focused mainly on fighting terrorism, protecting personal data, the refugee crisis and Bulgaria's bid to join the Schengen area. She wrote reports and proposals for EU laws to deal with the migration crisis. On the Regional Development Committee, she authored the European Parliament's first report on cohesion policy in mountain regions.

Yotova speaks fluent French and also uses Russian and English. She is married and has a son.