Nine major cities in Bulgaria saw first-round victory of mayors in the local elections, according to interim results on October 28. There will be second round of elections in the other big cities, BNT reported.

The processing of ballots continues. At some places the tally sheets have been processed at 100%, but at others they have been processed at 50% to 70%. Given the interim results, 9 cities have clear winners in the local elections, including:

Vratsa, based on 97% tally sheets processed: Kalin Kamenov – 72.82%

Montana, based on 100 % tally sheets processed: Zlatko Zhivkov – 71. 75 %

Stara Zagora, based on 100 % tally sheets processed: Zhivko Todorov - 68. 63 %

Bourgas, based on 96.93 % tally sheets processed: Dimitar Nikolov – 65. 86 %

Veliko Turnovo, based on 100 % tally sheets processed: Daniel Panov – 60.55 %

Kardzhali, based on 90.82 % tally sheets processed: Hassan Azis – 55.51%

Gabrovo, based on 99.17 % tally sheets processed: Tanya Hristova – 58.63 %

Kyustendil, based on 100 % tally sheets processed: Petar Paunov - 54.96 %

Haskovo is also possible to have a first round victory, but the ballots are still being processed. Tally sheets processed at 67.46% show that Stanislav Dechev won 51.03% of the votes.

The October 27 mayoral elections did not produce a clear winner In many major cities in Bulgaria. This means that in Sofia, Plovdiv, Rousse and several other places, a second round will be held on November 3.

In Sofia, the ballots have been processed at 40.72% showing that there will be a run-off. The current mayor Yordanka Fandakova (GERB) who won 36.38% of the votes and Maya Manolova (socialist-backed independent) with 27.28% will compete in the second round of the elections.