The Sofia City Municipal Election Commission has adopted a decision, published on its website at 00:47 a.m. on October 28, according to which the Central Election Commission (CEC) decision of October 27 cancelling machine voting for the October 29 local elections is not enforceable and therefore "does not give rise to a binding effect".
The Municipal Commission argues that this is so because the CEC decision omits certain essential elements: it does not state that it is appealable and does not provide for its anticipatory enforcement under the Administrative Procedure Code.
"The lack of clarity in the considerations of the authority set forth in its instrument is practically tantamount to lack of reasons," the Municipal Commission said. It refuses "to become an accomplice to the trampling on trust in the most democratic right of every Bulgarian citizens - the right to vote," the decision reads.
Later on Saturday, the CEC said in a decision that it found the Sofia City Municipal Election Commission's decision to be "null and void". The legal grounds invoked by the Municipal Commission for the adoption of the decision in question cannot remedy the defects of the decision, since the Municipal Commission has no power to interpret CEC decisions or the reasons for them, but should implement them, the CEC decision says.
The CEC is the state body in Bulgaria that carries out the activities and exercises control over the implementation of the Election Code and related legal acts in the conduct of all types of elections, the CEC decision reads. It adds that the CEC exercises control over the activities of the election commissions.
/LG/
news.modal.image.text
news.modal.download.text
news.modal.text
