November 10 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's incumbent president Rumen Radev leads public opinion surveys ahead of Sunday's vote, but support for him is insufficient for an outright victory, latest polls show.
Radev is backed by 46.7%, comfortably ahead of his main rival, university professor Anastas Gerdzhikov with 25.6% support, a survey by Sofia-based MarketLinks polling agency showed. The survey, commissioned by private broadcaster bTV, was conducted among 1,112 people above the age of 18 between November 2 and November 7 and its results were made public on November 9.
Radev is backed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party, We Continue the Change and Rise Up.BG parties, while Gerdjikov has the support of the GERB-UDF coalition.
If no candidate garners more than half of the votes in the first round of the elections, the two leading candidates go to a runoff.
According to a survey by Sofia-based Gallup International Balkan polling agency, Radev will get 47.6% of the votes versus 25.1% for Gerdjikov. The poll was conducted among 1,081 people above the age of 18 in the October 23 - October 31 period and the results were published on November 6.
Support for Radev has been falling lately, largely due to the introduction of coronavirus-related restrictive measures by the caretaker government which he appointed in May, according to MarketLinks.
Support for Mustafa Karadayi, the candidate of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, stands at 10.3%, according to the MarketLinks poll. Gallup International Balkan sees it at 8.5%.
Lozan Panov, the chairman of the Supreme Court of Cassation and a candidate of the reformist Democratic Bulgaria coalition, will win 7.7% of the votes, according to MarketLinks and 5.7% according to Gallup International Balkan
Voter turnout is expected at 58%, according to MarketLinks and at 57.1% according to Gallup International Balkan. The presidential elections will be carried out simultaneously with the country's third vote for parliament this year.