Incumbent president Iliana Iotova casts her ballot during the first round of the presidential election in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Sunday. (EPA Images pic)SOFIA: Bulgaria will head to a runoff vote on Nov 1 after a tight race between the two leading presidential candidates failed to produce an outright winner in Sunday's elections, which garnered record-low participation, official results showed.
With 95% of the votes counted, incumbent Iliana Iotova, 61, attracted 34.6% against 32% for ex-caretaker prime minister Andrey Gyurov, 50, falling short of the 50% threshold for the largely ceremonial role in a race of 27 candidates.
Sunday's vote took on added significance after a series of drone attacks on merchant ships off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast that likely killed some two dozen international seafarers. However, only about 22% of the eligible voters showed up to cast their ballot, according to polling agencies.
