site.btaPublic Council Criticizes Limited Scope of Constitutional Court's Election Ruling

The Public Council with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has published an analysis concerning the Constitutional Court’s Decision No. 33 of 2024, which responded to a request for annulling the parliamentary elections held on October 27, 2024. According to the Council, while the ruling addressed certain issues related to errors or falsifications in the electoral process, it did not, and could not, serve as a comprehensive audit of the elections.

The analysis recalls that on March 9, 2025, the Constitutional Court issued a decision declaring the election of sixteen MPs invalid. As a result, ten new MPs from the Velichie party, which passed the 4% threshold after a recalculation of national-level results, entered Parliament, along with six additional MPs from other parties. Despite highlighting numerous systemic deficiencies in the electoral process, the Court based its judgment solely on a manual recount of paper ballots stored in municipal archives and a limited graphical examination in three polling stations, the Public Council said.

As early as December 2024, the Council had submitted a detailed statement to the Constitutional Court, challenging the adopted methodology and the narrow scope of the two assigned tasks to the experts (as defined in the Court’s ruling on November 26, 2024).

Throughout its analysis, the Public Council reiterates its previous calls for broader sample-based audits of the electoral process. These include the analysis of invalid ballots and other components, utilizing all available materials and documentation to ensure transparency and credibility.