site.btaElection Authority Set on Preventing Replacement of Section Commission Members after Appointment

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has issued guidance that consultations with municipal mayors regarding the membership of section election commissions (SECs) should not take place before March 12. Fears are that if the consultations are held earlier, this will allow time for last-minute mass replacement of SEC members, a practice which the Constitutional Court has declared to be flawed, CEC Chair Kameliya Neykova said from the parliamentary rostrum on Wednesday.

The National Assembly was hearing CEC members and the caretaker Minister of Electronic Governance, George Sharkov, in connection with preparations for the early parliamentary elections on April 19.

According to Neykova, it often happens that after the SEC membership consultations are held and the number of SEC members from each parliamentary party or coalition is determined, and after constituency election commissions (CoECs) receive the lists of names, a mass removal and replacement of SEC members begins. “To prevent that, the CEC has incorporated the legal framework into its own decision,” Neykova emphasized.

She explained that a declaration of consent is legally required when appointing CoEC members, but not SEC members.

Nevertheless, parliamentary parties can solicit declarations of consent from future SEC members, so that these individuals would know they were being proposed and there would be no replacements after appointment, said CEC Deputy Chair Rositsa Mateva. Therefore, the CEC has recommended mayors not to rush the public consultations, she added.