SOFIA (Bulgaria), November 1 (SeeNews) – The presidential candidate of centre-right GERB party, the senior partner in Bulgaria's coalition government, would lose a possible run-off race either against the nominee of main opposition Socialists or the nationalist candidate, according to the results of a new poll.
If the second round of the elections were held now between GERB's Tsetska Tsacheva and the candidate of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Rumen Radev, Tsacheva would win 25% of the vote, while Radev would get 30.7%, according to a survey commissioned by bTV private broadcaster and conducted by Market Links polling agency. The share of undecided voters was 26.5%, while 17.8% said they would not vote.
bTV announced the results of the poll on Monday.
If Tsacheva had to face Krasimir Karakachanov, the candidate of nationalist Patriotic Front coalition and Ataka party, she would win 24% of the votes, while Karakachanov would be backed by 28.5%.
The poll was conducted among 1006 people in the period 24-30 of October.
A possible yet unlikely second round pitting Karakachanov against Radev would be a much tighter race, with 27.2% of the votes going to the BSP candidate and 26.1% to Karakachanov, according to the poll.
Support in the first round of the elections on November 6 is seen at 19.4% for Tsacheva, 18.1% for Radev and 8.5% for Karakachanov, according to the Market Links poll.
Other candidates include businessman Veselin Mareshki, who is expected to win 4.3% of the vote in the first round, and Traycho Traykov, the candidate of the junior partner in the governing coalition, the right-wing Reformist Bloc (RB), who would get the support of 3.8% of the voters if the first round was held now. The candidate of left-wing Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV), Ivaylo Kalfin, had around 3.5% support in the poll.
Voter turnout is seen at over 71%.
Another poll, conducted by Gallup International Balkan between October 23 and October 25, showed Rumen Radev as the winner of a possible run-off race with 32.1% of the vote, while Tsacheva’s support was seen at 31.3%. Support in the first round of the elections was seen at 20.2% for Tsacheva, 16.3% for Radev and 8.1% for Karakachanov.