site.btaPossible Changes to Parliament’s Composition to Be Decided by Constitutional Court

Whether there will be changes in the seats and the composition of Parliament is a decision for the Constitutional Court (CC), the Deputy Chair of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Rositsa Mateva, told NOVA TV. 

Currently, the CEC and Information Services are processing data from 2,204 protocols sent by the Constitutional Court. Mateva recalled that the CEC does not count ballots.

"There might be some changes because the number of valid and invalid votes for each party and coalition that participated in the elections—not just those represented in Parliament—has changed," Mateva said in response to a question about whether a shift in the parliamentary composition is possible. Considering that the Velichie party was only 21 votes short of passing the electoral threshold, it is possible that the four-percent threshold may now be different after the numbers are processed, she added.

Mateva stated that Information Services is expected to provide the database with the entered numbers by Monday  morning. Once reviewed by the CEC, effort will be made to submit everything required by the Constitutional Court. She clarified that the CEC itself will not announce any results from this calculation, as this falls under the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court. According to her, if the Constitutional Court  determines that the identified violations are serious enough to impact the election outcome, changes in the composition of Parliament are possible.

She further explained that Information Services is not conducting an audit but merely entering data from the protocols into a specialized module integrated into the results processing system. The decision of the Constitutional Court will depend on this data. The CEC and Information Services only input and process the numbers before submitting them to the Constitutional Court. The CEC can indicate whether changes in the distribution of mandates and the nominal composition would have occurred, but the final decision rests with the Constitutional Court, Mateva emphasized.

She noted that errors were found in 11 protocols from 11 different polling stations.

"On Friday, we reviewed all protocols containing discrepancies. Information Services conducted a double entry process with different teams—one team entered the protocols at the Regional Election Commission (REC), while another entered them at the CEC. We verified all paper records," Mateva stated.

She also mentioned that election documents and materials are preserved until the next election of the same type. She expressed hope that no documents are missing, as their safekeeping is the responsibility of local mayors, who designate officials and storage facilities for keeping them under supervision.

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