site.btaConstitutional Court Decrees Nationwide Reconciliation of Results of October 2024 Parliamentary Elections

The Constitutional Court Wednesday issued a decree tasking the Central Election Commission (CEC) with carrying out a nationwide reconciliation of the results of the October 27, 2024 parliamentary elections in light of the expert opinions admitted in the case, to ascertain whether there are indeed changes in the final result of the elections. A press release on the Court's website reads that only after the Central Election Commission has carried out, on the basis of the methodology laid down in Article 248 of the Election Code, a reconciliation of the actual votes for the parties and coalitions participating in the elections, will the Constitutional Court be able to issue a decision determining whether and in respect of which MPs the October 2024 election were unlawful.

On the basis of the Constitutional Court's decision on the possible illegality of the election of specific MPs, declared elected by the Central Election Commission in its decision of October 31, 2024, the CEC will have to issue a decision determining, in accordance with the Constitutional Court's decision, the MPs to be considered elected.

On November 26, 2024, the Constitutional Court accepted five cases challenging the October 2024 parliamentary elections' legality and consolidated them for a joint hearing. By January 10, 2025, experts had to determine whether: the number of valid votes cast by paper ballots or via machine voting corresponds to the number recorded in the minutes of the respective polling station commission; the number of valid votes cast by machine corresponds to the data in the memory of the specialized voting machines; the protocols of the election commissions were drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the Election Code; the number of ballot papers recorded as invalid in 442 polling stations corresponds to the number of invalid ballot papers submitted to the regional election commissions.