Do we like them?

Do we like Iliana Iotova?

Our score: 5 out of 10. A middle score because the record we could read is thin: clear on Russia and Ukraine, but not on LGBTQ+ or women's issues.

Iliana Iotova is a Bulgarian former journalist turned politician. She was vice president under Rumen Radev, and became acting president in January 2026 when Radev resigned to run in a parliamentary election, which he won. That makes her the first woman to hold the job, and now the first woman elected to it.

The runoff was a lopsided result. Al Jazeera reported her on about 58 per cent against about 38 for Gyurov, a banker and former caretaker prime minister backed by the pro-Western opposition. Turnout was low, slightly above the first round's record-low 23 per cent, so plenty of Bulgarians sat this one out.

Her big talking point is the war in Ukraine. She says “peace can come only through negotiations”, and Al Jazeera reports she advocates dialogue with Russia and opposes military aid to Ukraine. She also says she wants Bulgaria “strong in a strong Europe”, and supporters of Radev's line see that as pragmatic.

Her critics see it differently. Gyurov criticised her for not explicitly blaming Russia, saying “Russia must stop its aggression so that the next steps can be taken.” Analyst Teodor Slavev said voters were weighing her response to Russian threats in the Black Sea, and both candidates condemned the recent drone attacks on commercial vessels. Where you land depends on whether you read her stance as hard-headed diplomacy or as going soft on Moscow.

The harm check is where we have to be straight with you: we couldn't open reporting on what she has said or done about LGBTQ+ people, women's rights or climate. We saw her named in search results on Bulgaria's 2024 school-law changes on LGBTQ+ topics, but we couldn't read or date those pages. So we won't put a line on them here, and you should look at that one before you decide.

On the good-person side there's no scandal in what we could read, but there's no evidence of acts at a personal cost either. Winning a presidency as the first woman in the job is a real milestone, though it says little about how someone treats people. We'd call it too soon to judge until more is checked.