Administrative Court Cancels Mayoral Vote in Southern Bulgarian Village

The Pazardzhik Administrative Court has cancelled the results of the mayoral vote in the Southern Bulgarian village of Apriltsi, Pazarddzhik municipality.

The case was opened on a complaint filed by Marin Manolov, who ran for mayor as a nominee of the "Civil Choice – Modern Policy" formation.

Manolov lost the October 30 runoff by only tree votes to Atanas Maratilov, nominee of center-right ruling party GERB.

The court allowed a recount due to the thin margin separating the candidates.

The check revealed problems with 7 ballots rejected as invalid at the count of the second round of the elections.

All of the questionable ballots were in favor of the losing candidate, Marin Manolov.

The court ruled that the ballots matched the sample ballots, had the mandatory two stamps of the sectional electoral commission, contained only one "X" sign in one checkbox, without the mark leaving the frames of the checkbox, and had no invalidating inscriptions.

The fact that the "X" sign was ugly or skewed, or had not been placed directly over the figure but slightly off-center (without crossing the frames of the ballot square) did not make the ballots spoilt, the Pazardzhik Administrative Court declared.

The check also showed that there had been arguments among the members of the sectional electoral commission regarding the classification of certain ballots as spoilt, with 7 ballots accounted for in special protocols.

Taking into consideration the available evidence, the Pazardzhik Administrative Court canceled the mayoral vote.

The decision is not final and can be appealed before the Supreme Administrative Court (VAS) in a 7-day period.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!