Bulgaria to elect new president in runoff

Bulgaria’s Head of State will be decided in a runoff on Sunday, the country’s Election Commission said on its website on Wednesday.
According to the final results of the first round on Nov. 14, Bulgaria’s incumbent President, Rumen Radev received 49.42 per cent of the votes and will head to a runoff with Anastas Gerdjikov who received 22.83 per cent.
Radev and Gerdjikov were the top two candidates among 23 contenders.
The total number of eligible voters was 6,691,150 but only 2,687,307 cast their ballots, the commission said.
It stated that no president was elected because fewer than half the number of eligible voters cast a ballot and none of the candidates received more than half the actual votes cast.
The runoff winner is the candidate who secures the most votes, with no regard to voter turnout, according to the Bulgarian Constitution.
In the first round, 58-year-old Radev was backed by several political formations such as Continue the Change, Bulgarian Socialist Party and There Is Such A People,while his opponent was supported by Bulgaria’s centre-right GERB party.
The president of Bulgaria is the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces and has prerogatives such as appointing a caretaker government and dissolving parliament.
The president is elected directly by the people for a period of five years.
Radev’s term will expire at the end of January 2022.