Bulgaria's GERB Demand to Void Vote Unprecedented in EU – French Expert

The formerly ruling center-right GERB party’s move to contest and seek annulment of Bulgaria’s general election results has no precedent in the European Union, according to a French expert.

"GERB's request to cancel the election results sets a precedent among European Union member states," commented Pascal Perrineau, head of the Paris-based Centre for Political Research.

"You just cannot urge people to vote again if you don't like the results."

The center-right GERB party of former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has officially filed on Wednesday a claim with the country’s Constitutional Court to contest and void the May12 general election results.

A total of 96 GERB lawmakers have signed the party’s claim, according to local media.
GERB lawmakers have also filed claims calling for the cancellation of the vote on behalf of two marginal parties – the conservative Law, Order and Justice and the populist nationalist National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria.

Under the Constitution, the decision about the void can be made only by the Constitutional Court.

A political party has the right to ask annulment of election results, but only through the intermediation of five institutions – the President, the Supreme Court of Cassations, VKS, the Supreme Administrative Court, through their respective judges' plenum, the Chief Prosecutor, and at least one fifth of the sworn-in Members of the Parliament.

GERB demanded the cancelation of the election results due to “a gross violation of the law in the day before the vote."

Borisov claimed that his party's chances had been damaged by allegations that it was about to commit voting fraud.  He referred to the overnight raid of the Bulgarian prosecuting authority and the State Agency for National Security at a printing house on the eve of Election Day, during which a total of 350 000 illegal ballots were seized.

The printing house is owned by a GERB municipal councilor, which prompted opposition parties to accuse GERB of an attempted voting fraud. The parties thus allegedly broke the mandatory pre-election silence on the day before the vote.

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