Bulgaria's acting President Iotova leads presidential run-off in exit polls

Bulgaria's acting President Iliana Iotova is leading the run-off of the country's presidential election, according to exit polls reported by the official Bulgarian news agency BTA. Three exit polls from Sunday's vote put her ahead of her rival.

The polls gave Iotova just over half of the vote, about 51 percent. Her rival Andrey Gyurov, who is backed by the pro-Western opposition, received about 44 percent. Gyurov is a banker and a former caretaker prime minister.

Exit polls put voter participation at about 27 to 29 percent. That is slightly higher than the first-round vote last week, which recorded a record-low turnout of 23 percent.

Official results are expected on Monday as ballots are counted. The Bulgarian presidency is largely ceremonial. If the result is confirmed, the 61-year-old Iotova would become the country's first elected female president.

Iotova took over as acting president in January, when her longtime ally Prime Minister Rumen Radev resigned to run in a parliamentary election, which he went on to win.

Iotova advocates dialogue with Moscow and opposes military aid to Ukraine. That position was one of the most debated issues of the campaign.

The vote was overshadowed by drone attacks on ships off the country's Black Sea coast. Twenty-one people remain missing following a series of drone attacks last month on commercial vessels, which are suspected to be spillover from the Russia-Ukraine war.

Prime Minister Radev has said the attacks appear to serve Russian interests and summoned the Russian ambassador. His government, however, said there was no evidence directly linking the attacks to Moscow.

Both presidential candidates condemned the attacks and called for a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine. In a television debate, Gyurov criticised Iotova for not explicitly blaming Russia, saying Russia must stop its aggression so that the next steps can be taken.

Voters at polling stations expressed mixed feelings. Krassimira Kostova, a 64-year-old teacher in the capital Sofia, told the AFP news agency she did not like either of the two candidates but voted anyway.

Petar Doitchinov, a 67-year-old retired engineer, said he had skipped the first round last week because he expected a run-off. He said neither candidate matched his vision of democracy and that he voted for the lesser evil.