Iliana Iotova was born on October 24, 1964. In November 2016, she was elected Vice President of the Republic of Bulgaria with President Rumen Radev. On January 19, 2017, the two took the oath of office before the 43rd National Assembly, and on January 22, they entered office for a five-year term. In November 2021, Rumen Radev and Iliana Iotova were re-elected to serve a second term as president and Vice president. 

On January 23, 2026, Iliana Iotova took office as head of state of Bulgaria after the Constitutional Court formally terminated the powers of President Rumen Radev, who had announced his resignation in an address to the nation on January 19. 

Iliana Iotova graduated with a degree in Bulgarian and French philology from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski.” She obtained a specialized Master’s degree at the National School of Administration (ENA- École nationale d'administration) in France and the Center for European Studies (Centre des Etudes Européennes de Strasbourg) in Strasbourg.

She has worked as a reporter, editor, news presenter and Head of the News Directorate at the Bulgarian National Television (1990- 1997).

Iotova was director of the press service of the National Council of Bulgarian Socialist Party (1997-2007).
She served as a member in the 40th National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria (2005-2007). She has held the position of Chair of the Bulgarian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie and Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

She was elected a Member of the European Parliament from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in June 2007. She also served as a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) during her first mandate as MEP (2007-2009).

During her second mandate as MEP Iliana Iotova was Deputy-chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on organised crime, corruption and money laundering (CRIM); she was Deputy-chair of the Delegation to the EU-Moldova Parliamentary Association Committee; she was a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries (PECH), of the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions (PETI), of a Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, deputy-member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), and of the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union (DMAG).  During this mandate Mrs. Iotova  authored the European Parliament’s first report on the Black Sea and its fisheries.

During her third mandate in the European Parliament (2014-2017) Iliana Iotova was elected deputy-chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and for deputy-member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development (REGI). Mrs. Iotova was also deputy-member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. She was deputy-chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation to the EU – Montenegro Stabilization and Association Parliamentary Committee, as well as a member of the European Parliament’s Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly Union for the Mediterranean. 

The basic priorities and topics her work has focused on include: fighting terrorism, personal data protection, managing the refugee crisis, Bulgaria’s membership in the Schengen area. She has authored European legislative reports and proposals on tackling the migration crisis. In the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development, she was the author of the first European Parliament report on the policy of cohesion of mountainous regions in the EU.

She was a member of the Supreme Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (2000 - 2016). She was elected Deputy Chair of the BSP Sofia City Council in January 2006, a position she held until 2012.  Iliana Iotova was elected a member of the Executive Bureau of the Bulgarian Socialist Party in 2012 and served there until 2016.

Iotova is fluent in French. She has good command of Russian and English. She is married and has one son.