site.btaSupreme Court Dismisses Appeals against Counting All Paper Records Printed by Voting Machines

November 16 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) on Tuesday dismissed an appeal lodged by two coalitions against a Central Election Commission (CEC) decision on counting 100 per cent of the voter-verified paper records printed out by the voting machines at Bulgaria presidential and parliamentary elections on November 14, the Court said in a press release.

The CEC decision, adopted in the small hours of November 13, was appealed by Rise Up BG! Here We Come! and Democratic Bulgaria. It reversed a CEC decision of November 9 to count only 30 per cent of the paper records for control purposes. That earlier decision followed a SAC judgment on an appeal against a late October decision by CEC on a 100 per cent count and incorporation of the results into the tally sheet. The SAC ruled that, while the CEC was free to determine the percentage of paper records to be counted, the only document lawfully certifying the voting results should be the tally sheet printed out by the machine.

On Tuesday the Court determined that the November 13 decision, which was contested, merely amended the November 9 decision, which has taken effect, and did not run contrary to the SAC judgment. The arguments against the percentage of paper records to be counted were found to be groundless and the appeal was dismissed as unfounded, whereas the CEC did not commit any violations in adopting the decision at issue that would warrant its revocation, the SAC said. ZH/LG
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