site.btaSupreme Administrative Court Rejects Democracy, Rights and Freedoms Coalition Appeal Against Election Commission

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) dismissed the appeal by the Democracy, Rights and Freedoms (DRF) coalition against the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) to deny the coalition's registration for participation in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections on October 27, 2024, the court said here on Thursday. The court upheld CEC's decision as its ruling is final.

On Wednesday, SAC annulled as unlawful CEC's refusal to register the Movement for Rights and Freedoms-New Beginning coalition for participation in the snap parliamentary elections. Later in the day, the CEC registered MRF - New Beginning of one of MRF's two chairpersons Delyan Peevski.

SAC ruled that the two coalition filings involving the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) were not submitted simultaneously. The court said in its ruling that the MRF-New Beginning coalition's application was submitted first, electronically at 12:05 am on September 2, 2024, before the DRF coalition's application. The court said that, according to the Code of Administrative Procedure, applications submitted by email before the deadline, even outside working hours, are considered submitted on time.

The court also supported the argument that, under the Electronic Governance Act, administrative bodies are required to provide all services within their competence electronically unless a law specifies a particular form for certain actions. The court stated that the Election Code does not require special actions for registration, such as notarization of signatures, so the application for coalition registration to participate in elections can be signed either manually or electronically.

That is the latest development in a saga that has threatened the participation in the elections of the two MRF factions: Democracy, Rights and Freedoms-MRF loyal to Honorary Chairman Ahmed Dogan and Peevski's MRF-New Beginning.