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Bulgaria's Constitutional Court declares the election of 16 MPs illegal, Velichie party above 4% threshold

Photo: BGNES

Bulgaria's Constitutional Court has declared the election of 16 MPs in the current Bulgarian Parliament illegal. The decision was published on the institution's website.

The Constitutional Court's decision makes it clear that after the recalculation of the results of the October 27 elections, Velichie party passes the 4% barrier for entering parliament, and the election of 16 MPs has been declared illegal. However, Velichie's entry into the National Assembly must be announced by the Central Election Commission, after it calculates the mandates and their distribution. The document states that after the recount, Velichie party has 97,497 votes, and the 4% barrier is 97,390 votes.

The fact that 16 MPs will have to leave parliament does not mean that Velichye party will have 16 MPs. The new MPs may also be from other parties.

The court's decision declared illegal the election of Pavlin Yotov, Alexander Nenkov, Temenuzhka Petkova and Nikola Djambazov (GERB-SDF), elected as a member of parliament in place of Temenuzhka Petkova for the time during which she was serving as a minister. 

The election of Ivaylo Mitkovski from "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria", Esheref Esheref from "Alliance for Rights and Freedoms", Viktor Papazov and Svetoslav Todorov from Vazrazhdane party, three deputies from MECH - Deyan Petkov, Rosen Ivanov and Borislav Petkov, and three from ITN - Emil Trifonov, Ivan Kyuchukov and Alexander Markov; Stanislav Anastasov and Metin Kachan from the coalition "DPS-New Beginning", Andrey Valchev from "BSP-United Left" was also declared illegal.

In November 2024, the Constitutional Court admitted for consideration on the merits five cases, all of which challenged in 52 sections the legality of the elections for members of the 51st National Assembly held on October 27. The court merged the five cases for joint consideration. Among those challenging the legality of the elections were representatives of various political formations: Velichie, ITN, "Movement for Rights and Freedoms", "Alliance for Rights and Freedoms", "We Continue the Change" - "Democratic Bulgaria" and "BSP for Bulgaria - United Left".



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