The Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) has annulled the results of the municipal council elections in Pazardzhik, rendering the October 2023 vote invalid. This ruling, which upholds an earlier decision by the Administrative Court in Pazardzhik, is final and not subject to appeal.

As a result, until a new election is organized, the municipal council will continue to operate under its previous composition, largely made up of figures aligned with former mayor Todor Popov. Popov is widely seen as politically connected to Delyan Peevski. Meanwhile, the city’s mayoral office remains in the hands of Petar Kulenski, elected from the “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” coalition.

In its decision, the SAC underscored that the Election Code sets different procedures for challenging election outcomes at the local level compared to parliamentary elections. When it comes to disputes over parliamentary mandates, the Constitutional Court has the power to establish violations, assign responsibility to the Central Election Commission (CEC), and mandate a redistribution of seats and announcement of new deputies. However, for municipal council elections, administrative courts lack the authority to trace irregularities back to specific individuals or mandates and therefore cannot selectively invalidate only certain councilors’ elections.

The case originated from a formal complaint submitted by candidates representing the "Bulgarian Rise" party, “There is Such a People” (TISP), and the Agricultural People's Union. Their challenge focused on how mandates were allocated following the vote.

As part of the court proceedings, a partial recount was ordered, specifically in 52 polling stations. The recount revealed substantial procedural flaws: many valid ballots had been incorrectly bundled together with invalid ones. Furthermore, discrepancies were found in the vote count protocols, with actual preference votes for multiple candidates from various parties not accurately recorded.

These findings led the SAC to conclude that the integrity of the electoral process had been significantly compromised, warranting the annulment of the election for municipal councilors in Pazardzhik.