Former interim prime minister Gyurov to run for president of Bulgaria
Former interim Prime Minister of Bulgaria Andrey Gyurov said he will run in the presidential election on October 25, 2026. His likely main rival will be acting President Iliyana Yotova, who seeks to secure a full mandate, Balkan Insight reports.
Gyurov explained his decision by his desire to leave his children a united, honest and modern Bulgaria focused on the knowledge economy and people. He also said that political differences must not turn citizens into enemies.
Vice-presidential candidate
Former Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Interior Georgi Kandev will run alongside Gyurov as the vice-presidential candidate. They announced their campaign in Goce Delchev, a city in southwestern Bulgaria that is native to both of them.
Their campaign is expected to be pro-European and reformist in nature and opposed to the government of incumbent Prime Minister Rumen Radev. Democratic Bulgaria and Gyurov's former partners from the We Continue the Change party had previously stated that they would support their candidacy.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Political experience
At the beginning of 2026, Gyurov headed the interim government for two months. This period was marked by efforts to counter vote rigging ahead of the parliamentary elections in April, as well as by the signing in March of a cooperation agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Gyurov was born in 1975 and worked in banking and financial academia, including as an analyst and credit risk specialist in Vienna. In November 2021, he entered parliamentary politics as a representative of the newly created reformist party We Continue the Change. In 2023, he left the party and became deputy governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, and in 2026 he headed the interim government.
Kandev, who was also born in 1975, worked in Interior Ministry structures from 1999. In June, he left the post of chief secretary, saying that he had faced political pressure from Radev's office; the source describes the circumstances of this matter as unclear. Boyko Borisov's GERB party has not yet made its position on the election public.
