Baku, October 27 (AZERTAC). Official results from the October 23 first round of voting in Bulgaria's 2011 presidential elections emerged on October 27, showing ruling party GERB presidential ticket of Rossen Plevneliev and Margarita Popova with 1 349 380 votes and the Bulgarian Socialist Party's Ivailo Kalfin - Stefan Danailov ticket with 974 300 votes. Of 6 933 748 people eligible to vote, turnout was 3 593 751. Meglena Kouneva, the nominee of a non-party committee, got 470 808 votes. Ultra-nationalist leader Volen Siderov got 122 466 votes. Stefan Solakov, of the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria, got 84 205 votes. Other results included: Centre-right Blue Coalition candidate Roumen Hristov: 65 761; Order Law and Justice party nominee Atanas Semov: 61 797; Alexei Petrov, nominated by an initiative committee: 31 613.

The announcement of the results provides official confirmation of the second-round vote on October 30, a run-off between Plevneliev and Kalfin, even though this has been known since the release of exit polls after the close of voting on October 23.

The administration of the elections and the vote-counting process has been the subject of widespread criticism among opposition parties and some voters, although foreign election monitors found the elections to have been run in accordance with generally acceptable standards. However, the fact that official results emerged only on October 27, rather than within 48 hours of voting ending - as election rules require - is a result of administrative problems with finalising the results of vote-counting in Sofia, Plovdiv and other major cities.