Bulgarian presidential election

The main ruling party's presidential candidate Tsetska Tsacheva won the biggest share of the vote in two Turkish cities with a high concentration of expats, electoral statistics show.

Tsetska Tsacheva and Rumen Radev, the two presidential candidates who made it to the runoff due this weekend, will clash in a televised debate on Sunday.

The two will face each other on the Bulgarian National Television on Thursday, November 10, at 20:30.

The GERB candidiate who came second in Sunday's first round of Bulgaria's presidential election issued a stark warning on Monday about the future of democracy if her left-wing rival wins the second round run-off on November 13.

For the first time in Bulgaria's post-communist history, a socialist-backed candidate has fared better in the capital Sofia than all other contenders in an election, election data shows.

Rumen Radev, the candidate supported by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) whose running mate is a long-time party member, has garnered 25.77% of the vote, with 99.32% of ballot protocols counted.

Bulgaria's second-largest opposition party DPS has said it throws its support behind the socialist-backed candidate in the presidential elections.

Rumen Radev has emerged as a winner of the first round, defeating Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's candidate Tsetska Tsacheva.

A newly introduced "protest vote" option has fared better than some of the candidates in the presidential election in Bulgaria, official figures show.

With nearly half of the vote counted, more than 5.80% have cast a ballot ticking "I Do Not Support Anyone", added after voting was made compulsory earlier this year.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said his GERB party will quit the government if his party's candidate in the presidential election loses the second round on November 13.

The Bulgarian national interest will be the core priority of the newly emerged nationalist coalition even after the presidential election, candidate Krasimir Karakachanov has said.

Both frontrunners in Bulgaria's presidential race support NATO, but also want Moscow and Sofia to have closer ties, Politico has said.

"Russia is the dominant topic" in the race, a report on the election reads, also calling the list of presidential contenders "an eclectic mix of 21 candidates in the race to succeed Rosen Plevneliev."

Polling stations will be open till 8pm on Sunday in Bulgaria, where over 6,834,000 citizens are entitled to cast a ballot for a new President in an unexpectedly knife-edge race.