At its sitting on 07.04.2026 the Constitutional Court issued a ruling in Constitutional Case No. 6/2026, rejecting the request of the 16th Panel of the Sofia City Court in connection with Criminal Case No. 7982/2025, a general criminal case under its consideration, to establish “incompatibility” between Art. 27, para. 2, Art. 38, para. 2, item 2, and the words “are not serving a prison sentence” in Art. 350, paras. 1 and 2, Art. 351, paras. 1 and 2, Art. 396, paras. 1 and 2, Art. 397, paras. 1 and 2 of the Election Code (published in the State Gazette, No. 19 of 2014, last amended in No. 23 of 2026), and terminates the proceedings in the case.
The reasoning of the Resolution states that, within the scope of the possibility provided for in Article 150, paragraph 2 of the Constitution for any court (judicial panel) to refer a matter to the Constitutional Court to establish a conflict between a statutory provision applicable in a specific case and the Constitution, there must be such a connection that, without a ruling by the Constitutional Court, it would be impossible for the referring court to perform its judicial function in accordance with the Constitution.
In the present case, no such connection exists between the contested provisions of the Electoral Code and the proceedings before the referring court regarding the offense under Article 343(2)(b) in conjunction with paragraph 1(c), in conjunction with Article 342, paragraph 1, clause 3 of the Penal Code.
Not only does the referring court have no need for assistance in resolving the case pending before it in accordance with the Constitution, but moreover, it has already formed an opinion on matters that the court decides upon when rendering its judgment pursuant to the provision of Article 301 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In this sense, the assertion that the contested provisions of the Electoral Code constitute applicable law finds no basis in the facts of the case pending before it.
All 12 constitutional judges participated in the session.
The Resolution was adopted unanimously.
Link to the full text of the Resolution - https://www.constcourt.bg/en/case-719