(ANSA-AFP) - SOFIA, 25 OTT - Voting began this morning in Bulgaria's presidential election, amid growing security concerns following a series of drone attacks on ships in the Black Sea. Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time and will close at 8:00 p.m. President Iliana Iotova, who favours dialogue with Moscow and opposes military aid to Ukraine, is the frontrunner for a new term in the largely ceremonial post, polls show. Iotova, 62, is expected to win between 41 and 47 percent of the vote, according to surveys. Her main challenger Andrey Gyurov, a banker and former caretaker prime minister backed by the pro-Western opposition, is polling at 28-31 percent. The leader of the pro-Russian far-right Vazrazhdane party, Kostadin Kostadinov, is in third place on 10-13 percent. Iotova took over this year as president of Bulgaria, a European Union and NATO member state, when Rumen Radev stepped down to run in parliamentary elections, eventually becoming prime minister. If successful in a runoff set for November 1, she would become the first woman ever elected president in the country of 6.4 million people. A win for Iotova would be a boost for Radev, who has also called for dialogue with Moscow. A former journalist and member of the European Parliament, Iotova was elected vice-president alongside Radev in 2016 and 2021. (ANSA-AFP).