HIBAPRESS – Mohammed Zerriouh
The legislative elections in the Nador province have not definitively closed after the announcement of the results, as indicators have begun to emerge of moves by a number of unsuccessful candidates to resort to the judiciary, a step that could open a new chapter of electoral competition, but this time within legal procedures.
According to circulating data, some parties have begun collecting documents, data, and testimonies related to the electoral campaign and election day, with the aim of verifying the possibility of establishing electoral appeals based on provable facts and data, without this meaning, at this stage, the existence of official appeals submitted to the competent authorities.
Some of these moves are concentrated, according to the same data, in a number of areas in the province, where there is talk of collecting elements that may fall within potential legal files, pending the completion of their verification and assessment of their responsiveness to the conditions imposed by the procedures organizing electoral disputes.
According to the official data of the Constitutional Court, appeals related to the election of members of the House of Representatives are submitted to the Constitutional Court, and the deadline for submission is set at thirty days following the date of the announcement of the results. The petition must also include the documents and evidence on which the appellant relies in his claim.
The submission of an appeal does not automatically mean the cancellation of the announced results, as the Constitutional Court examines the objections and submitted documents and the extent to which the raised facts affect the integrity and transparency of the electoral process.
The Court has previously canceled electoral results in cases where it considered that the presented facts and evidence affected the credibility of the vote, while in other cases it ruled not to accept the appeals or rejected them for legal reasons or for lack of proven impact of the objections on the results.
Thus, the political scene in Nador awaits whether the current moves will actually turn into official appeals within the legal deadlines, or will stop at the stage of data collection and the study of legal options.
Pending what this phase will result in, the announced results remain in place, while the decision in any electoral dispute remains within the jurisdiction of the constitutional judiciary according to the evidence and procedures in place.
