Contested election results: 780 missing ballots across all parties, will 'Velichie' secure parliamentray representation

Bulgaria's election services operator, "Information Services", has requested an extension from the Central Election Commission (CEC) to submit the recalculated election results by 5:00 PM on March 12. The CEC extended the deadline but only until 9:00 AM the next morning. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Parliament held an extraordinary sitting to hear explanations from the CEC and Information Services regarding the issue.

During the debate, it was revealed that 780 ballots from 7 polling stations disappeared after the Constitutional Court’s expert review of the election results.

“In a letter received by the CEC on March 7, it was stated for the first time that some polling stations lacked both paper and machine ballots, leading the experts to record zero votes,” said CEC Chair Kameliya Neykova.

Missing ballots by party:

"Velichie" – 32 votes (as a reminder, the party was 21 votes short of reaching the 4% parliamentary threshold), "There Is Such a People" – 35 votes, MRF - New Beginning – 242 votes, "Vazrazhdane" – 103 votes, Alliance for Rights and Freedoms – 13 votes, MECh (Morality, Unity, Honour) – 33 votes, GERB-UDF – 134 votes, WCC-DB – 92 votes, and Bulgarian Socilaist Party – 55 votes, according to Ivaylo Filipov, Director of "Information Services".

The missing votes were noticed by Information Services after re-entering the data from the Constitutional Court’s check.

“A total of 155 votes—105 machine votes and 50 paper votes—were marked as zero, according to the Constitutional Court’s experts. Video surveillance clearly shows that there are both machine and paper ballots in the transparent ballot boxes in these seven polling stations. In total, the missing votes, which I will refer to as ‘disappeared,’ amount to 780 for all political parties,” said Ivaylo Filipov.

Although the election results have not been fully recalculated, the "Velichie" party remains out of parliament for now.

“Do these 780 votes affect the 4% threshold? Specifically for 'Velichie,' they do not affect it at all,” commented Emil Voynov from the CEC.

The CEC has asked for the sacks of ballots, but some of the mayors of the municipalities of the affected polling stations have replied that they have already been handed over to the Constitutional Court.

“We asked the Constitutional Court to request the sacks seen in the video footage. The court responded, and I quote: ‘The Court bases its conclusions on legally established evidence, which video recordings and the filling in of protocols are not,” stated Rossitsa Mateva from the CEC.

It is precisely because of the discrepancies of the data from the official protocols and the Constitutional Court's inspection that the head of Information Services has referred the matter to the Prosecutor's Office.

“The Constitutional Court refused to take additional actions to secure the ballots from these 7 polling stations. We have submitted all the materials as required by the Prosecutor's Office as a matter of urgency. The report was submitted by me,” said Ivaylo Filipov.

Because of the data discrepancies before and after the check, MPs requested to hear the Constitutional Court’s experts to understand why the numbers changed. "Information Services" stated that by tomorrow they might be able to complete the recalculation of the results of the elections held almost half a year ago.

“The pace our colleagues are maintaining gives us hope that we will finish by the early hours on the 12th, so the deadline set by the CEC will be met,” Ivaylo Filipov noted.

MPs also requested the Constitutional Court to hold an open sitting on the recalculation of the election results.

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