site.btaCEC to Send Recalculated Election Data to Constitutional Court, Parliament Calls for Full Document Disclosure

The October 27 parliamentary elections results limbo continued on Wednesday. The Central Election Commission (CEC) decided to send to the Constitutional Court (CC) the recalculated data received from election service provider Information Services related to the case challenging the legality of the vote.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Information Services press centre told BTA that the company has submitted the updated data to CEC.  

The Constitutional Court has been approached by several parties challenging the lawfulness of the October 27, 2024 elections. As part of the case it opened, the Court hired experts to do a new count of the ballots in 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.

Earlier in the day, in a declaration presented by Parliament Chair Nataliya Kiselova Wednesday, the legislature called on the Constitutional Court, CEC, and Information Services to make public all documents related to the dispute over the election results. The declaration states that "someone is deliberately neglecting their duties".

The declaration was backed by GERB-UDF, MRF - New Beginning, BSP - United Left, There Is Such a People and one MP of Vazrazhdane. 

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) MP Atanas Atanassov called the declaration "a stillborn" and "misguided". He pointed out that while the National Assembly was hearing the experts appointed and involved in a constitutional case concerning a challenge to the legality of the elections to the 51st National Assembly, Parliament had already issued a declaration that the Constitutional Court had not done its job. "This is an unprecedented, shameful act of interference by the highest organ of state power in the work of the Constitutional Court while the National Assembly is in conflict of interest," said CC-DB MP Yordan Ivanov.

Late on Tuesday, There Is Such a People submitted a request for the hearing of the experts in the case in the Constitutional Court on the challenge to the legality of the elections.

During the hearing, CC-appointed expert Rumyana Siderova said that each group of experts has counted an average of 43-44,000 ballots. Her colleague Prof. Krasimir Kalinov expressed expectations of internal shifts in the National Assembly based on the missing 780 votes. "My expectation is that the reshuffling will happen within the parties and by regions – someone will probably leave this parliament, and someone else from the same party will come," he explained.

Protests 

On Wednesday evening, citizens held a protest in front of the Palace of Justice in Sofia on Wednesday, expressing support for rule of law and free and fair elections. Mottoed "WHO Blocked the Constitution", the protest was organized by the Justice for All initiative through social media.

Earlier in the day, a smaller protest was held in front of the Council of Ministers, the President's Administration building and the National Assembly. The demonstration involved public figures and representatives of various civil society organizations. They rallied under the windows of the government to express their dissatisfaction with the violations committed in last October’s general elections.

Other Political Reactions

Also on Wednesday, GERB leader Boyko Borissov told journalists in the National Assembly that the situation is so chaotic that he no longer knows who is right, and sees nothing transparent in the whole thing. He added the time to cancel the elections was five months ago, before the GERB-led coalition government was formed. Borissov noted that the recent controversies, including demonstrations near his house on Tuesday night, were happening at a time when the Cabinet had asked the European Commission for a convergence report for its entry in the eurozone.

Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning Floor Leader Delyan Peevski warned that "ten MPs will be taken away if a party that lacks the necessary votes is unlawfully brought into Parliament". According to Peevski, an attempt is being made to "illegally insert a party" into Parliament. "If this happens in such a way, it constitutes a crime against the Constitution," he stressed.