The candidate of the ruling right-wing GERB party Rosen Plevneliev was elected Bulgaria's next president in a run-off Sunday, first exit poll results showed.

The popular former construction minister won the second-round vote with between 55.3 and 56.6 percent, ahead of Socialist candidate and European deputy Ivaylo Kalfin who took 44 percent, according to exit polls by the MBMD and Sova Harris institutes.