The Sofia Echo is reporting that Yordanka Fandukova has been elected mayor of Sofia. The mayor is directly elected in a two-ballot contest. The result was as follows:

Yordanka Fandukova (GERB – Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) 66.1 per cent
Georgi Kadiev (Socialist Party) 26.5 per cent

In addition, Southeast European Times reports that Pavel Popov, of the conservative Order, Law and Justice party won less than 3 per cent, and that other 15 candidates received less than 1 per cent of the vote each.

So, Fandukova is elected at the first ballot, even though the turnout was only 25.7 per cent. Southeast European Times also reports that she was supported by the rightist Blue Coalition and the nationalist Ataka party

The election was caused by the appointment of Boiko Borissov as prime minister in July. (See previous post). Previously, he had served as mayor of Sofia from November 2005.