Presidential elections were held in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

on 6 November 2016, alongside a referendum on changes to the electoral system and political party funding. The second round was held on 13 November 2016, resulting in the victory of

Rumen Radev Rumen Georgiev Radev (, born 18 June 1963) is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who has been the President of Bulgaria since 2017. Radev previously served as higher commander of the Bulgarian Air Force. He won the 2016 Bulgarian p ...

Electoral system

The

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

was elected using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

. For the first time voters were allowed to vote for

none of the above "None of the above" (NOTA), or none for short, also known as "against all" or a "scratch" vote, is a ballot option in some jurisdictions or organizations, designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of the candidates in a voting system ...

Candidates

Incumbent president

Rosen Plevneliev Rosen Asenov Plevneliev (, born 14 May 1964) is a Bulgarian politician who served as the 4th President of Bulgaria from 2012 to 2017. Affiliated with the GERB party, he previously served as Minister of Regional Development and Public Works fro ...

announced in May 2016 that he would not be running for re-election.

Official candidates

Declined

Opinion polls

First round

Second round

Results

Voter demographics

Gallup exit polling suggested the following demographic breakdown.

Aftermath

Following the results of the second round, Prime Minister and GERB leader Boiko Borisov tendered his resignation. Two days later, on 16 November, the National Assembly voted 218–0 to accept it, resulting in early parliamentary elections.

References

{{Bulgarian elections

Presidential Presidential Presidential elections in Bulgaria