November 7 (SeeNews) - The candidate of main opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) leads in the first round of the presidential elections but falls short of outright victory, according to partial results, the central election commission said on Monday.
With 85.68% of the votes in Sunday's elections counted, former Air Force commander Rumen Radev won 25.76%, while Parliament speaker Tsetska Tsacheva, the candidate of the senior partner in the government coalition, centre-right GERB party, came in second with 21.97% , according to data published on the central election commission's website.
The partial results point to a tight run-off between Radev and Tsacheva on November 13.
Support for Krassimir Karakachanov, candidate of nationalist Patriotic Front coalition and Ataka party, stood at 14.96%.
Businessman Veselin Mareshki won 10.79% of the votes, while Traycho Traykov, the candidate of the the junior partner in the government coalition, right-wing Reformist Bloc (RB), had 6.06%.
Former prime minister Plamen Oresharski was backed by 6.30% of the voters.
The protest vote, which chose to support none of the candidates, stood at 5.64%.
In the national referendum for changes to Bulgaria's electoral system that was held simultaneously with the first round of the presidential elections, 3 million people voted, according to 85.68% of the ballots counted. For the referendum to be valid at least 3.5 million voters should have cast ballots.