site.btaIliana Iotova Runs for President

Iliana Iotova is a presidential candidate in the upcoming elections on October 25. She has been put forward by a nomination committee alongside vice-presidential candidate Kiril Valchev.

Iliana Iotova was born on October 24, 1964.  She is a graduate of the Alphonse de Lamartine 9th French Language High School in Sofia and holds a degree in Bulgarian Philology from St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. She completed specialized training at the French National School of Administration and the Centre for European Studies in Strasbourg.

She worked as a reporter, editor, presenter, and Director of the News and Current Affairs Directorate at the Bulgarian National Television between 1990 and 1997. She headed the Press Centre of the National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) from 1997 to 2007. She was a member of the BSP National Council from 2000 to 2016. In January 2006, she was elected Deputy Chair of the BSP Sofia City Council, a position she held until 2012. In 2012, she was elected to the Executive Bureau of the BSP National Council, remaining a member until 2016.

She served as a Member of Parliament in the 40th National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria (2005–2007). 

In November 2016, she was elected Vice President of the Republic of Bulgaria, serving alongside President Rumen Radev. On January 19, 2017, the two took their oaths of office before the 43rd National Assembly, and on January 22, they assumed office for a five-year term. In November 2021, Rumen Radev and Iliyana Iotova were re-elected for a second term as president and vice president, according to the Presidency's website.

On January 23, 2026, Iliyana Iotova assumed the office of Head of State of Bulgaria after the Constitutional Court prematurely terminated the mandate of President Rumen Radev, who had announced his resignation in an address to the nation on January 19.