Assen Vassilev, chair of Bulgaria’s Continue the Change coalition, described the second‑round presidential election as a "red card" for the government after exit polls showed the Iliana Iotova‑Kiril Valchev ticket ahead of the opposition. Speaking from his hometown of Haskovo, Vassilev urged voters to wait for final results but warned that the campaign failed to mobilise more people, noting a turnout of roughly 30 % among lower‑level voters.
Vassilev cited first‑round exit polls, which placed the Iotova‑Valchev ticket significantly ahead of Andrey Gurov and Georgi Kandev. He said he expected the final margin to be narrower but did not anticipate a change in the order of the two tickets. The politician also countered two negative claims about the political assemblage, arguing that approximately the same number of GERB voters cast ballots in the runoff as in the first round, and that only about a third of Movement for Rights and Freedoms supporters turned out, with a slight majority backing Gurov and about 40 % supporting Iotova.
Parallel exit‑polls released by five agencies at 9 p.m. on election day produced similar results, with Iotova‑Valchev consistently leading. Trend reported 58.1 % for the Iotova–Valchev ticket against 38.9 % for Gurov‑Kandev, Alpha Research gave 57.4 % to 39.6 %, and Myara posted 58.2 % to 38.6 %. Market Links offered a contrasting figure, 56.5 % for Gurov‑Kandev and 40.6 % for Iotova‑Valchev, while Gallup International Balkan reported 56.1 % to 39.1 %. All five agencies agreed that the Iotova‑Valchev ticket was ahead in the two‑round race.
Vassilev highlighted that the parties supporting the Iotova ticket—Progressive Bulgaria, Vazrazhdane, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Velichie—collectively received almost 1.8 million votes in the parliamentary election. He estimated that 900,000 to 1 million votes for Iotova would imply a decline of about 800,000 votes from the combined support of those parties. By contrast, Continue the Change garnered about 400,000 votes in the parliamentary election, while Gurov’s coalition drew roughly twice that number. Vassilev said attention would next turn to the 2027 state budget, expected to be presented next week, and he hoped it would be made public as soon as possible. If the budget proved harmful, he urged amendments through parliamentary and extra‑parliamentary means.
