Bulgaria elections 2016: Opposition candidate Radev narrowly wins biggest share of first-round vote – exit poll
There was shock for Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s governing GERB party as opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party-backed candidate Roumen Radev narrowly outdid GERB’s Tsetska Tsacheva in the first round of presidential elections on November 6 2016.
An exit poll by Alpha Research released soon after voting ended at 8pm showed Radev as getting 24.8 per cent and Tsacheva 23.5 per cent.

This immediately raised the question whether Borissov’s government would resign and open the way for early parliamentary elections. Some months ago, Borissov said he would resign if GERB did not win the presidential elections at the first round. A week ago, he modified this, saying that he would not resign if Tsacheva was in first place at the first round and even if she placed second in a runoff.
The November 6 outcome, if confirmed by official results, means that a November 13 second-round vote becomes mandatory because no candidate scored 50+1 per cent of the vote at the first round.
Voter turnout was seen at 52.4 per cent, according to Alpha Research.
Exit polls showed third place going to Krassimir Karakachanov, of the ultra-nationalist United Patriots electoral coalition, made up of the National Movement for the Salvation of Bulgaria, Volen Siderov’s Ataka and Karakachanov’s VMRO party, at 13.6 per cent.
Fourth was business person Vesselin Mareshki at 8.3 per cent, fifth was minority partner in government the Reformist Bloc’s Traicho Traikov (7.1 per cent), followed by Movement for Rights and Freedoms-backed Plamen Oresharski (6.9 per cent). Socialist breakaway party ABC’s Ivailo Kalfin got 3.8 per cent and Movement 21-NMSP candidate Tatyana Doncheva 2.1 per cent.
The “I don’t support anyone” option got 6.2 per cent of the vote, according to Alpha Research.
Related: Bulgaria’s 2016 elections: The factfile
/Politics