What has become known as round three, the court cases over results in Bulgaria's municipal elections would last at least till mid February, lawyers told Dnevnik daily.

In at least 19 of the larger cities, election results for mayor or municipal councillors were currently in the hands of the court.
After a ruling by the Administrative Court, most cases would likely be appealed at the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC), and the procedural hold there could mean it would take months before a settlement was reached, Dnevnik said.

Immediately after the elections, demands to annul the results were filed at the courts. At least 19 newly elected mayors and councillors have not began their work because of court cases filed by those who lost the elections.

Konstantin Penchev, chairperson of the SAC, referred to the court cases as a third round in the elections.

Most dramatic was the court case in Rouse, where four parties and two independent candidates files complaints. After checks in six districts, the court found significant differences between counted votes and ballots presented, which would lead to changes in the mandate of the municipal council.

After a difference in the vote count of over 100 votes was found in one of the districts, the court ordered a recount in another six districts. In the mean time, the Prosecutor started an investigation against members of the district election committees where the biggest differences in vote counts were found. A missing envelope or differences of a few votes could be regarded as minor mistakes, but significant differences between counted votes and ballots presented would constitute a criminal act, performed by functionaries who have presented documents with false content, deputy regional prosecutor Andrei Angelov said.

In Plovdiv, a recount was demanded by the Order, Law and Justice party, who failed to win a mandate in the new council by one vote.
The ballots from the 77th district in the city however, disappeared. They would have to be found before November 27 when the next hearing in the case takes place, the court said.

Ballots were being recounted in Bourgas, Varna, Gabrovo, Svishtov, Ardino, Kazanluk, Sandanski, in 62 of the 69 districts in Razgrad and in other cities, Dnevnik daily said.

In Dobrich the court worked over the weekend to keep to the 14-day deadline for a ruling in the case.

Penchev said courts could not be expected to repeat the work of election committees. In this spirit, the administrative courts in Sofia, Shoumen and Pleven rejected demands for recounts. A recount was an exception, not the rule, was their argumentation.

This year, 438 court cases had been filed over the elections, a week earlier SAC had said. The number was, lightly put, startling, but part of the cases were over accusations of vote-buying and election violations, which this year flooded police and Prosecution, Dnevnik daily said. There would be a lot of court activity as these elections had left impressions of dirtiness and all sides said "let the courts decide," Penchev said. But according to him, the SAC would be ready with experienced judges and a steady practise.

For now, not a single case had made it to the SAC, so there was still some way to go, Dnevnik daily said.