Iotova wins presidency on turnout of less than a third
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Iliana Iotova secured the presidency with 57.6% of the vote, defeating Andrey Gurov in a runoff where the most notable participant was the absence of the electorate. Turnout reached only 29.1%, suggesting that while the winner won the ballot, she has yet to win the attention of the public.
The victory coincides with a 32.52% hike in natural gas prices and a budget deficit that has touched 4%. The Ministry of Finance maintains the deficit was 2.8% of GDP at the end of September; the 2027 budget will be presented on Friday to a country where spending has been likened by one politician to the reckless use of a machine gun.
Sofia is currently preoccupied by a 'lost' case sent by local europrosecutors to the EU’s chief prosecutor, Laura Codruța Kövesi, and claims by Demerzhiev that the National Audit Office is shielding Delyan Peevski. In the streets of the capital, hundreds have gathered to protest after a man allegedly killed a puppy with a kick.