1996 Bulgarian presidential election

1996 Bulgarian presidential election

27 October 1996 (first round) 3 November 1996 (second round)
Turnout	63.3% (first round) 61.8% (second round)
Nominee Petar Stoyanov Ivan Marazov Party ODS BSP Running mate Todor Kavaldzhiev Irina Bokova Popular vote 2,502,517 1,687,242 Percentage 59.7% 40.3%
President before election Zhelyu Zhelev SDS Elected President Petar Stoyanov ODS

Presidential elections were held in Bulgaria on 27 October 1996, with a second round on 3 November. The result was a victory for Petar Stoyanov of the United Democratic Forces, who won 59.7% of the vote in the second round. Voter turnout was 63.3% in the first round and 61.8% in the second.

Results

Candidate	Party	First round		Second round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Petar Stoyanov	United Democratic Forces	1,889,825	44.1	2,502,517	59.7
Ivan Marazov	Bulgarian Socialist Party	1,158,204	27.0	1,687,242	40.3
George Ganchev	Bulgarian Business Bloc	937,686	21.9
Aleksandar Tomov	Independent	135,571	3.2
Hristo Boychev	Movement for the Protection of Retired, Unemployed and Poor People	57,668	1.3
Vera Ilieva	Bulgarian Communist Party	34,004	0.8
Slavomir Tsankov	Union of Democratic Forces and Movements "Era 3"	22,724	0.5
Ivan Stoyanov	Democratic Party in Bulgaria	14,659	0.3
Mincho Minchev	Patriotic Party of Labour	13,567	0.3
Mitko Dimitrov	Alliance for the Preservation of Bulgaria's Wealth	7,793	0.2
Lyubomir Stefanov	Alternative Socialist Alliance	6,056	0.1
Dimitar Markovski	Free Cooperative Party	5,823	0.1
Iliyan Nikolov	Bulgarian National Ecological Party Veliko Tarnovo	4,920	0.1
Invalid/blank votes		28,662	–	25,412	–
Total		4,317,161	100	4,215,145	100
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, University of Essex