At its sitting on September 24, 2026, the Constitutional Court ruled on Constitutional Case No. 14/2026. The case was initiated at the request of 49 members of the 52nd National Assembly, with Judge Yanaki Stoilov serving as the reporting judge.
The Court rejected the request to declare unconstitutional sections 3.1, 3.2, Section 3.3, and Annex No. 1 to Section 3.2 of the Rules for Conducting Public Consultations and the Procedure for Appointing the Members of the Central Election Commission, as established by Decree No. 170 of May 29, 2026, of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria.
In the reasoning for its decision, the Constitutional Court notes that the legal dispute arose because the wording of Article 46(8) of the Election Code (EC) allows for two options for resolving the issue of seat allocation within the CEC, which lead to different outcomes. The Court points out that the provision is not detailed enough to determine whether there is a mandatory sequence of actions that the President must follow (a legally required mathematical algorithm) or whether the President may choose a course of action within the bounds of the law that complies with the restriction that no single party or coalition may hold a majority on the commission, as is the case here. The Court finds that, by issuing the rules and accompanying methodology, the president did not do anything different or beyond what is provided for in Article 46, paragraph 8, of the Electoral Code.
According to the Court, there is no violation of constitutional principles – the rule of law, universal, equal, and direct suffrage, and political pluralism.
All 12 constitutional judges participated in the sitting.
The Decision was adopted with 11 votes in favor and a dissenting opinion by Judge Sonya Yankulova.
The full text of the Decision: https://www.constcourt.bg/bg/act-10448