site.btaCentral Election Commission to Appeal against Court Ruling that Allows Video Monitoring of Ballot Counting in April 4 Elections

March 19 (BTA) - The Central Election Commission (CEC) will appeal against a ruling of the Sofia City Administrative Court (SCAC) which allows video monitoring and streaming of the ballot counting after the end of voting in the April 4 parliamentary elections. CEC made this decision late on Thursday by 12 votes in favour and six against, the Democratic Bulgaria Alliance said a Facebook post Friday.

Video monitoring was banned by joint instructions on personal data processing and protection in the election process issued by the CEC and the Commission for Personal Data Protection. Democratic Bulgaria challenged the ban in court, seeking to achieve more guarantees of integrity in the election process.

Initially, the SCAC dismissed the appeal, but then the Supreme Administrative Court returned the case to the first-instance court for re-adjudication on the merits, and this time on March 15 the court found in favour of video monitoring. The judgment states that video monitoring guarantees "transparency, objectivity, lawfulness of the election process, equal treatment of those involved in it, and ensuring freedom of expression and the right to information".

Democratic Bulgaria claims that the majority of CEC members, who represent GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, consider video monitoring a real threat. The coalition added that more than 11,000 election agents have already joined in the campaign as defenders of the popular vote, and that You Count will enable live streaming of the counting of votes. NV/DD








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