The SAC ruled that the CEC should immediately register "DPS-New Beginning"

The Supreme Administrative Court annulled a decision of September 9, by which the CEC refused to register a coalition “ Movement for Rights and Freedoms - A New Beginning“ for participation in the elections for people's representatives on October 27, 2024

The file is sent to the CEC for the immediate registration of the coalition.

In the announcement of the Supreme Court, it is noted that, in an indisputable and undoubted manner, it was established in the case that on September 9 at 00:05, an application was submitted electronically on the part of the applicant coalition (appendix No. 5-NS), signed with electronic signatures by both representing the coalition.

"This application is not reflected in the register, nor has it been examined by the CEC, accordingly there are no findings as to whether it meets the requirements of the IC and decision No. 3546-NS of August 27, 2024 regarding the registration of parties and coalitions in the CEC for participation in the scheduled parliamentary elections", specified by the court.

The court accepts that the applications of the two coalitions, in the formation of each of which PP DPS participated, were not submitted at the same time, on the contrary - the application of the applicant coalition was submitted before the application of the coalition "Democracy, rights and freedoms - DPS", more at 00.05 on September 2 electronically. According to the rule of Art. 29, Para. 6 of the Administrative Procedure Code (APC), requests submitted by e-mail before the expiration of a certain period, even if outside the working hours of the authority, are considered to have been submitted within the period.

"The provisions of Art. 18 a of the APC and Art. 8, paragraph 2 of the Law on Electronic Government (LEG) oblige administrative bodies to provide all services within their competence and electronically, unless a law provides for a special form for performing separate actions. This necessitates the conclusion that the application for registration of a coalition for participation in elections can be signed both manually and electronically. An identical interpretation of the law was adopted in decision No. 7665 of 10.08.2022 of the Supreme Administrative Court in administrative case No. 7039/2022, which is fully shared by the panel. Decision No. 369 of 19.10.2021 of the Administrative Court - Stara Zagora in administrative case No. 614/2021 is also in this sense, the Supreme Administrative Court also noted.

The Supreme Magistrates accept that the CEC committed a violation of the law by not registering the electronically submitted application in a timely manner in the incoming register of coalitions for participation in the elections for people's representatives on October 27, 2024, not giving it a serial number, not considered it independently, and instead attached it to the later submitted application on paper, signed manually by the coalition representatives, she accepted that the application was submitted at the same time as another one - for the registration of a coalition "Democracy, rights and freedoms" DPS“ and has considered the application in connection with it.

The instructions for the removal of admitted irregularities that the CEC gave to the coalition "DPS-New Beginning" are also completely inconsistent with the provisions of the Election Code.

"According to the principles proclaimed in Article 3 of the Law on Political Parties (PPA), political parties are voluntary associations of citizens with electoral rights, according to Bulgarian legislation. They assist in the formation and expression of the political will of citizens through elections or in other democratic ways and use democratic means and methods to achieve their political goals," the court emphasized and added:

"In this sense, the decision on the way to participate in the elections - independently or in a coalition - belongs solely to the political party itself. Art. 127 of the IC places only one limitation in this connection - the party can appear in elections either independently or only in one coalition in each type of election. In addition, the prohibition of Article 127 would be violated only in the event that in the specific type of election a certain political party is already registered for participation, regardless of whether it is alone or in a coalition with other parties."

The decision in an administrative case is final.