site.btaSupreme Administrative Court Revokes Central Election Commission Decision Limiting Machine Voting to 500 Sections

Supreme Administrative Court Revokes Central Election Commission Decision Limiting Machine Voting to 500 Sections

Sofia, February 1 (BTA) - The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) said Wednesday that it had revoked a decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) limiting machine voting at the March 26, 2016 early parliamentary elections to 500 voting sections. The judgment is final.

This means that 18,000 voting machines (12,000 for all voting sections and 6,000 spare) must be procured for the polls as required by the Election Code.

The CEC was challenged by several former MPs, who are now part of the right-wing New Republic Platform. They argued that the Commission's decision violates a requirement of the Election Code which states that "in the voting section, the voter may choose to vote by paper ballot or by voting machine ballot."

Machine voting was used in Bulgaria at four elections so far: twice on an experimental basis and twice as a legitimate equivalent to voting by paper ballots. At the latest elections, machine voting was available in 300 sections, and 23 per cent of voters availed themselves of this opportunity.

So far, the hardware was rented. The rental, transportation, maintenance, software and logistics cost 1,500 leva per machine. "Troud" has quoted election expert Mihail Konstantinov as saying that the costs of the March 26 elections will thus double to 60 million leva from the 29.9 million leva current estimate.

"Once the SAC has rendered such judgment, the CEC will comply, but there are lots of difficulties that must be overcome and that the Commission has yet to consider," CEC Spokesman Tsvetozar Tomov told BTA, approached for comment.

"Most difficulties stem from the very short time within which this voting option must be ensured to Bulgarian voters," Tomov specified. In his opinion, this is technically impossible or impracticable in mobile sections and sections abroad.

"The matter is difficult and complicated, in this situation the Government should adjust the elections budget, and time is of the essence," he added.

Tomov sees a need of a public debate because this is a problem not just for the CEC, and the competent institutions in Bulgaria must pool their efforts to solve the issue.