site.btaParliament Starts Hearing of Central Election Commission and Election Service Provider

Parliament opened a hearing of the leadership of the Central Election Commission and election service provider Information Services, as it is trying to see who did what regarding a constitutional case on the lawfulness of the October 2024 elections. Parliament was convoked by Parliament Chair Nataliya Kiselova.

The Constitutional Court has been approached by several parties challenging the lawfulness of the elections. As part of the case it opened, the Court hired experts to do a new count of the ballots in some 2,204 polling stations and once the recount was done, it instructed the Central Election Commission to recalculate the results. CEC, in turn, asked election services operator Information Services to do the recalculation. On March 10, Information Services said that all relevant paperwork had been provided to the prosecuting magistracy. In an unprecedented statement, the Court said that providing the election papers to the prosecuting magistracy without its permission hinders its efforts to conclude the case challenging the election results. 

A total of 191 MPs in the 240-seat legislature registered for the hearing. In the plenary hall for the hearing are Central Election Commission Chair Kamelia Neykova, her deputies Dimitar Dimitrov, Emil Voynov, Rossitsa Mateva and Tsvetozar Tomov, Secretary Sevinch Solakova and Commission members.

Petar Petrov MP (Vazrazhdane) asked that the cameras of the Bulgarian National Television be turned on for a live streaming.

Hamid Hamid of MRF - New Beginning called for the same and also insisted that the experts who did the recount of the ballots for the Constitutional Court be also summoned.

Nataliya Kiselova said she had given instructions that the experts be contacted and invited to the hearing, and hopes that they may show up in the course of the hearing. 

With 181 votes "for", Parliament backed the motion for streaming the hearing on Bulgarian National Radio and the Bulgarian National Television.