Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) told BTA on Saturday that it will rule on Monday, October 30, at the earliest on an appeal against a Central Election Commission (CEC) decision cancelling machine voting for the October 29 local elections.
If the full set of the appeal is submitted to the Court on Saturday, it can be administrated on Monday at the earliest, i.e. on the day following polling day, the Supreme Court explained, adding that it does not have duty panels over the weekend.
In a related development, National Assembly Deputy Chair Nikola Minchev MP of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) said on Saturday that the CEC decision has been appealed before the SAC, which has three days to rule. "Considering the significance of the case, ruling with the least possible delay is in the public interest," Minchev argued.
He advised the municipal election commissions and the Interior Ministry authorities to wait for the progress of the case on Saturday before returning the voting machines to Sofia. In his opinion, CEC has a reason to reconsider its decision. The report from the State Agency for National Security about a possible breach of the security of the voting machines' software code is in Parliament and is not classified, but only the National Assembly Chair, who is the addressee, can decide on its publication, which should be done the MP said.
Minchev was non-committal as to whether the elections could be invalidated if the SAC determines that the CEC decision is unlawful. Another CC-DB MP, Vasil Pandov, believes that this may be grounds for invalidation.
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